Will high energy bills mean more people downsizing?

[flashbac]

For those underoccupying houses just for the sake of it, because they like the luxury of loads of space, because people come and stay every other Christmas or whatever. Energy rates are horrendously expensive now. Will more people think about downsizing do you think?

The capped energy price for a "typical" user is increasing by nearly £700 in April. Many people in large houses could have downsized years ago and saved this amount every year in council tax, but such a saving doesn't seem to have encouraged large numbers to have done so.

@Totalwasteofpaper

YABU.

In my area def not.
We are London and most of our neighbours are 60s up to 80s. Those in their 50/60s either don’t work at all or are semi retired

In the main they have no mortgages and good pensions.
Our street of 4/5 bed houses has 1-2 occupants in the majority of houses (I only know of 4 “young” families 40/50s with kids on our half of the road and that’s about 50 houses)
There are Bentleys, teslas, Audis and Mercedes on the drives…
Ocado and Waitrose vans roam the roads…
Rear gardens contain elaborate light displays are on all night, every night…

There is no energy crisis for these people…

You can bet they'll still complain about it. Oh no my energy bill went up, I can only afford to go to Switzerland for skiing once this year.

We sold our 4 bed detached last year to relocate for work. It cost around £10k in estate agent's fees and around £4.5k to move (albeit quite a distance!). It would have to be a HUGE saving on energy bills just to move to a cheaper home to heat.

As it is, we're renting a smaller terraced house whilst we look for somewhere to buy, It is poorly insulated, has old-fashioned light fittings and rubbish double glazing so we're using far more gas/electric than we were in our previous, bigger, detached house. So, downsizing doesn't necessarily solve the problem.

As has been said, downsize to where? I live in the city suburbs in an extended 3 bedroom semi with DH and 2 teens (one about to go off to uni). 2 bedroomed bungalows round here are such gold dust that they are the same price or sometimes more than our kind of house because they are in such demand. They often have big gardens so I think it's assumed that developers will knock them down and build flats on (something that has happened a few times here). Why would anyone bother with the upheaval and expense of moving to something smaller for the same price?

The alternative is a flat, but if you enjoy having an outside space then they're not great. You're also stuck with dodgy neighbours in close proximity, potentially. More noise. Parking issues.

Plus there is the thought that adult DC will probably be coming back and forwards to live at various times until they can afford to buy somewhere of their own in quite a few years to come.

No. I know it will badly affect loads of people and not minimising that, but for many it will be annoying paying more but not a huge deal. On here you'd think everyone is going to end up destitute.

Larger homes will be more and more in demand as the cost of living increases mean that multi generational living becomes the norm again

I'd guess it would take more than one lifetime for the energy cost savings from moving house to offset the expenses of moving, especially stamp duty.

No-one is going to move house just because of energy costs. People who moving anyway might make different choices.

@Unitedstations - you’ve made some huge leaps there! I was being tongue in cheek…. Where was I saying ‘hand over’?? Relax comrade haha

@Choppies it didn’t sound that tongue in cheek really but as it was you’ll be pleased to know that Rightmove serves your needs perfectly