To think more people should be incentivised to downsize?

[Sprockerdilerock]

I'm sure I will be flamed but here goes.

I know so many older adults who live in family size homes long after their children have left. Would it not be better for the government to offer incentives eg no stamp duty, removal costs paid for them to downsize to free them up for those that need them more?

We do have a housing shortage and I get that we could always build more homes, but we are also heading towards a climate crisis and surely it's better to use what resources we do have more efficiently and plough less energy into creating more.

My MIL is case in point - she still lives in the home my DH and his siblings grew up and often expresses a wish to downsize but she doesn't have a lot of money to spend on things like legal costs etc.

I’m actually keen to downsize in later life, preferably in my late 50’s/early 60’s. I find having a family-sized home a pain- there’s always something that needs doing or fixing! Plus DH and I will be rattling around on it once the children leave.

I daydream about a naice flat, preferably with a balcony that I can furnish sparsely with a few things I really like (I don’t want to hang onto stuff). A small bungalow would work too. As long as it’s minimal maintenance!

I can see the downsides to incentivizing this choice, but there are people who want to do it
(and don’t want a garden).

@Hrpuffnstuff1

The housing market has experienced an average compound interest increase of a around 10 percent every yr since the boom. 5.5 tn of this wealth is tapped with the long living baby boomers, this group contains the wealthiest people in the UK. They also experienced wage growth. Since the 2000's wage growth has been comparatively stagnant when compared to the previous 20yrs.

People in these groups need to stop pretending they actually deserve that increase in wealth and understand they just happened to be born in the right era.

You seem to think those people just sat on their arses and the fairies delivered mortgage free houses and pensions. People in younger age groups need to stop pretending that’s not the result of around 50 years work and that people have no control over their date of birth. What do you want those people to do? Lots of them are subsidising their kids with house deposits already - what more do you want?

When my kids leave home I’ll be repurposing their rooms as an office and a craft room. I’ll also still have my large garden. Why should I move if I don’t want to?

For what it’s worth I work in housing and see every day 3-4 bedroom homes with older people living in one room while the rest of the properly is falling in to disrepair. On one hand I think they should have to move and they shouldn’t be except from the bedroom tax so they have to while on the other hand I recognise that a lot of smaller properties are flats that I wouldn’t want to live in myself and I can’t blame other people for not wanting to move. To encourage people to move we’d need to build more bungalows but you can build a house on the same footprint as a flat so why would you?

People in younger age groups need to stop pretending that’s not the result of around 50 years work

What's that got to do with a house bought for 50k now worth 2m?

I think we should be going in a different direction towards multi-generational homes
Unfortunately this is likely to end up with women having to care for the older people who share their home, and will negatively impact on their careers and their freedom. I would not be happy to take on the burden of my MIL living with us. We’ve created a world where families need two incomes and people can’t afford to stay at home to look after elderly relatives, nor do they want to.

Also - people staying in big expensive homes to avoid paying for their own care seems extremely unethical to me too!

@savemymuu

People in younger age groups need to stop pretending that’s not the result of around 50 years work

What's that got to do with a house bought for 50k now worth 2m?

What control do you think those house owners have over that? Or do you think it’s only the hated boomers’ houses that have increased in value?

What control do you think those house owners have over that? Or do you think it’s only the hated boomers’ houses that have increased in value?

I never said it was in their control just that it's not particularly aligned with how hard one works.

I ask my parents recently if they ever thought they'd move - big 4 double bedroom house with just the two of them. My dad said he couldn't be bothered to go through everything they'd accumulated over 40 years! If my dad goes before my mum she will definitely downsize and relocate but I wouldn't want them to be forced into something they didn't want!

My MIL is case in point - she still lives in the home my DH and his siblings grew up and often expresses a wish to downsize but she doesn't have a lot of money to spend on things like legal costs etc

But surely the money to pay for the legal (etc) aspects of the move comes from the equity she will have freed up selling her family home?

Your plan will have the exact opposite impact to the one you think it would.

If older people downsize to buy smaller houses that would mean that those who need a smaller house will be unable to get on the property ladder and the bigger houses will be out of their price bracket.

@savemymuu

What control do you think those house owners have over that? Or do you think it’s only the hated boomers’ houses that have increased in value?

I never said it was in their control just that it's not particularly aligned with how hard one works.

I didn’t say it was. I simply pointed out that anyone who has a mortgage free house and a pension worked for several decades for them, regardless of house price inflation. It’s fairy money anyway unless you downsize or die.

Or do you think it’s only the hated boomers’ houses that have increased in value?

I don't hate boomers.
Not all boomers are rich
Not all boomers have gained equity.
Some non boomers have gained equity.

However statistically across a generation the boomers hold the most property wealth.

OnlyFoolsnMothers
The incentive will be a lack of a decent state pension and having to pay for care...they will be desperate to release equity

I think that's really scummy.

No pension so oldies starve to death and free up houses, is that your plan?

Why should someone move out of their privately owned home? My inlaws live in a 4 bed so that when the grandchildren visit there is room ti stay.

Also, with the move to WFH and working age increase, people need the extra space, children or not. We use two no longer used bedrooms as offices each. We won't be going back into an office if we stay in our roles and retirement is decades off.

I would happily pay more stamp duty to avoid living with my parents or in-laws (and i quite like them)

Why destroy green fields to build houses when there are many, many empty rooms?

Because those rooms BELONG TO PEOPLE. Do you want the govt to requisition them? Are you a communist?

I simply pointed out that anyone who has a mortgage free house and a pension worked for several decades for them, regardless of house price inflation. It’s fairy money anyway unless you downsize or die.

The fact remains that one can work just as hard these days and won't experience the same benefits or the opportunity for fairy money.

I'm in my 30s & have paid NI since I was 17. Will I see my state pension? unlikely. Will the NHS be free at the point of care when I'm older? unlikely. I still worked hard though.

Definitely need more smaller houses built! Where I live there has been a marked increase in development companies buying huge Edwardian villas and replacing them with 2 or 3 large (5 bedroom) houses, then each of these houses with much smaller footprints is then sold at more than the price of the original large villa.

Most of the remaining building stock has been extended - and that’s the other problem, as the only option available for people wanting 2-3 bedrooms is apartments... We own one of the few the last remaining houses in our entire estate that still has only the original 3 bedrooms!

we live in a fairly large house, just two of us. there are several other house the same size for sale in neighbouring streets, and they are taking a long time to sell. the smaller/cheaper houses tend to sell much more quickly. I'm sure lots of families would love to live in a larger house, but they are quite expensive for wages in the area, so I assume a lot of people can't or don't want to afford them. not sure how incentivising/forcing us to move out of our house (which we have no desire to!) would magically make the houses affordable to the families you think should have them?

I wouldn't mind downsizing, the problem I find is that in order to downsize I have to accept a house or flat with a kitchen so small it's difficult to cook in, and a living dining room that won't fit a table to seat more than 2 people. Downsizing doesn't mean I won't cook and invite the family round to eat. It just means I need less bedrooms, not smaller everything.

@lanbro. My IL’s are similar, it’ll be a nightmare sorting out their stuff if they ever move. They keep everything tidy but there’s SO much and they even bought an extra shed to store everything.😂

I think that’s one reason why I’m not personally keen on hanging onto things ( and my Dad’s the same as my IL’s)!

@Edgeoftheledge

Why should someone move out of their privately owned home? My inlaws live in a 4 bed so that when the grandchildren visit there is room ti stay.

Do they acknowledge that this drives the needs for new build estates and increased prices on existing housing stock?

The incentive will be a lack of a decent state pension and having to pay for care...they will be desperate to release equity

I think that's really scummy.

No pension so oldies starve to death and free up houses, is that your plan?

What is the solution though? We have an ageing population, a shrinking tax paying population. We need immigration but that's not popular & the NHS is massively underfunded.