Should older people move house to make way for the young?

I’ve watched a number of friends, and my parents, really struggle because their homes have become unsuitable for their needs as they age, and they have had to make compromises which I would not want to do, for example, having commodes where they have no downstairs toilet, living and sleeping in the same room, etc.
I do therefore think that hanging on to our large, high maintenance, and less than ideally laid out family houses is a mistake if we live a long life, and I want to move to somewhere easier to manage and less rural once my son leaves home. I wouldn’t be doing it because it would free up my home for a young family though, but because my needs are better met in a different house.

Mae 🙋‍♀️ I m here
5 bedrooms plus two attic rooms, ….but luxurious, you re having a laugh. No central heating, a shower over the bath and windows that need replacing, far from ideal in most people eyes, but I am happy and will stay here and if needed have a stair lift put in. I don’t envisage struggling…. if I need the bath taking out and a proper shower unit put in I will do that.
I don’t want to move I am opposite a bus stop to town and just round the corner to a bus stop to go in the opposite direction
I have a street of small independent shops a stones throw away
A doctors a five minute walk and the beach and sea literally on my doorstep plus two parks less than five minutes away.
I will stay and once I m gone and the house sold it will be made into multi occupancy I expect
Not everything is as it seems

I did downsize 8 years ago. It was just me rattling about in a 4 bedroom house with a large garden. So I upstick and moved to a 3 bedroom bungalow, one of which I use as a dining room. It was the best decision I made. I'm close to family and shops etc. I now have reduced mobility and balance issues so being on one level is great. The garden is small enough for me to manage. The big house was more suited to family living. However I didn't think that I had to move to help out a family. I moved to help me.

I moved out of my large four bedroomed house twenty
years ago and it was bought by a couple with three children so I was pleased it would be used.
My two bedroom flat is so much easier to manage as the big house was becoming physically and financially difficult to cope with.
To answer the OP I don't believe anyone should downsize if they are happy in their home. It's a choice I made for me but to uproot just to give more room to others and possibly be unhappy in a new place isn't good especially for older people.

Grandmabatty

I did downsize 8 years ago. It was just me rattling about in a 4 bedroom house with a large garden. So I upstick and moved to a 3 bedroom bungalow, one of which I use as a dining room. It was the best decision I made. I'm close to family and shops etc. I now have reduced mobility and balance issues so being on one level is great. The garden is small enough for me to manage. The big house was more suited to family living. However I didn't think that I had to move to help out a family. I moved to help me.

That’s great GMB.
Every bungalow we looked at needed guttting, super overpriced.
I really could do with one, but like said previously, by the time we have paid all the fees, etc we would need at least seventy k+ to bring up to date. We just wouldn’t be gaining anything, plus I haven’t got the energy or motivation to do up another house.
At least I can say our house is all done & there is a cloak room downstairs, & space to put in a bed/shower room.
Bus stop 100yrs away.
Plus we have super neighbours who tell us to ring anytime we need anything, ( which I haven’t done).
I don’t want to be to out of the frying pan, into the fire.
But really we don’t know what’s round the corner for us.

I mean bus stop is 100 yards away 🤣 mind you it does feel like that sometimes

Funnily enough though, all our bungalows around our way all seem to be built on steepish roads, or have steepish driveways up, or downwards, or steps up to the front door. I am thinking ice & snow 🤔

TBH I’ve seen articles on this theme for ages. The sad fact is that many young people/families nowadays couldn’t in any case afford to buy the sort of houses that many in their 60s/70s/80s are now said to be ‘hogging’. Even modest family houses have become relatively so much less affordable for anyone on an average sort of income.

My elder sister and BiL bought their first home - a new, 3 bed semi in the early 70s for under £4k.

And around 10 years ago a dd bought a very good ex council house that had been lived in by the former owners for 60 years. After a good old nose on the Land Reg, dh found that they’d bought it in 1971 (incidentally well before Thatcher and Right to Buy) for almost exactly 1% of what dd paid.

Somewhere I have an old copy of the free newspaper Mature Times. I kept it because there was an article about downsizing, reporting on a survey done by a large organistion; I can't remember which. But I do remember it said that people start to think about downsizing in their 50s, once children have left home, but many do nothing about it until they are in their 80s. Thirty years is a whole generation.

Things have now changed, adult children living with their parents for much longer that they used to. People having their children later in life will also factor into that even without the problems that young people face in affording their first home.

Those who have downsized, I would be interested to know what age why were when they started thinking about it and what age they were when they actually did it. If years, even decades, went by in between, why?

Chardy

I watched Escape to the Country - a retired couple who wanted 'more space' than their 4 bedroom house in suburbia. I switched off.

At 65, do people not look at 75 yr olds and say that could be us in 10yrs?
Why does people want a big house to keep clean and heat?
Why do people not see that modern houses are easier to keep clean than 'character properties'?
We like gardening, we'd like a bigger garden. Do you have magic knees?
We want views. No, you want to be a short walk from shops and a health centre. And public transport would be good

UK needs a lot of 2 bedroom homes without stairs (accessible to wheelchairs would be good). Definitely affordable. Upstairs flats would be good for young couples, singles and non-resident parents

Chardy you are you, and know what you want, but other people have different priorities, different reuirements and one persons dream house is another person's nightmare.

We have just downsized from country to towncentre where all facilities are within a couple of hundred yards. We have also bought a 500 year old house in need of renovation, we are both in our early 80s. This is our 4th and, I assume, last project.house. The difference being that having down sized from a large 4 bedroomed property in an expensive area to a 3 bedroomed property in a less expensive are, we have freed up enough capital to pay other people to do all the renovation work.

Someone asked how the downsizing idea starts. Well we bought our first retirement home 30 years ago when we were in our early 50s. and it was not a downsize. We are essentially country dwellers, but when our children got to secondary school age we moved into a town to enable them to grow up with the freedom and independence to visit friends, go to activties without needing a parent to drive them everywhere.

When they flew the nest, we returned to the country to a big house with a big garden and lived there uite happily until we were about 80. then the garden became too much work. we were more than happy to continue in the house.

We had always assumed we would downsize in the community we lived in, but both our children's lives had taken them to the other side of the country so it made sense for us to move closer to them. We had already weathered one health emergency with one child facing a 200 mile cross country journey to make what they feared would be a final visit to a parent.

We did not look at a single 2 bedroomed house without stairs. Stairs can have stair lifts fitted and ever since we bought our first new terrace house one room has been a dedicated study/office. Our interests are academic and we have both studied for a number of further degrees. We occupy 2 of our bedrooms, with one free for visitors and the house is big enough to have 3 reception rooms.. Space for us not to live in each others laps all day.

You cannot specify how much accommodation any specific household reuires, minimum size for households of different sizes possibly, but even then, we all have different lives, different budgets and different reuirements. Our single childless daughter has just bought a house described as having 5 bedrooms. Two have ceased to be bedrooms and the other three are for her and a stream of visitors.

Younger people cannot afford big houses in many parts of the country. The problem isn't older people

We are used to having a study and my studio in bedrooms - so if we were to move would want 3 or (ideally) 4 bedrooms.
If we can't find what we would like (in order to live as we do today) then we will have to consider a stairlift in future.

Ideally we will find something.
Not a bungalow though.

I tell myself that if my mother-in-law can move into a new 3 bed with a big garden at 95 and completely remodel both in and out then we should be able to do this too as we are much younger than she was.
🤞

Yes. Not just for the benefit of younger people but going forward for the benefit of the older occupier.

I posted a resounding “yes” on the do you love your home? Thread. We’ve recently downsized and love it. The family home was becoming burdensome. Selling, moving to a city we’ve always loved, has boosted our pension and allowed us to gift substantial sums to our adult children. Everyone wins.

And that's lovely Monica. Genuinely I'm pleased for you. But your experiences are not the norm

But things that may happen/will happen that need planning for
Not having a car
A couple becoming a widow/er
Becoming less mobile
Heating bills increasing suddenly/massively
Etc

I don't think there's any "should" about it, that comes across as somewhat police state. I know it was mooted before by a conservative MP. I believe I speak for many, people don't want to be dictated to as to how they should live, even in the mildest terms of a suggestion could still be viewed an affront and to an older demographic especially as that sometimes goes with the ageist, bedroom blocker inference. Particularly annoying for those who've lived in their home for years and at their time of life don't want the upheaval of a move and just want to stay in that home with all its memories and a community around them that's familiar. Fresh in my mind from 5 years ago when we moved to where we are now, no matter how smoothly it goes it's still stressful.

As many have stated here, moving from a larger house doesn't necessarily make it easier for those trying to get on the ladder. Conversely it could make it harder if too many older people were maybe downsizing and therefore vying for smaller properties desired by first timers. The bottom line, we all know it, more affordable homes for those struggling to set up independently.

From my personal point of view, if at such a time it was just me, I could conceive downsizing to maybe a smaller house, it would still have to have spare bedrooms as family members, including grandchildren often come to stay.

NHBC reports that in 2025 only 122,012 homes were completed with 75,227 in the private sector and 40,123 in the affordable/rental sector.

Meantime:

1. Action on Empty Homes reports that over 350,000 homeless people are trapped in temporary accommodation and thousands are sleeping rough every night while 1 in every 25 homes in England alone sits long-term empty - 1 in 10 in some parts of the country.

2. The Skilled Worker Visa: temporary shortage lists most building trades and professions.

www.gov.uk/government/publications/skilled-worker-visa-temporary-shortage-list/skilled-worker-visa-temporary-shortage-list

3. Approximately 11 million people of working age in the UK are not working including a million NEETs.

A scapegoat must be found for all this and this time it’s older people for living too long and wanting a bit of space to do it in.

JaneJudge

Younger people cannot afford big houses in many parts of the country. The problem isn't older people

That's it, in a nutshell.

Which is probably why the 4/5 bedroom new-builds in my town remain on the market. The reason is certainly not because of their location as they are all near to the local shops and within easy walking distance from the 2 schools. They are, also, pleasing to the eye. They are just not affordable.

Dickens

JaneJudge

Younger people cannot afford big houses in many parts of the country. The problem isn't older people

That's it, in a nutshell.

Which is probably why the 4/5 bedroom new-builds in my town remain on the market. The reason is certainly not because of their location as they are all near to the local shops and within easy walking distance from the 2 schools. They are, also, pleasing to the eye. They are just not affordable.

How many of us could afford big 4 bedrooms houses when we were young?

I know we couldn't.

Allira

Dickens

JaneJudge

Younger people cannot afford big houses in many parts of the country. The problem isn't older people

That's it, in a nutshell.

Which is probably why the 4/5 bedroom new-builds in my town remain on the market. The reason is certainly not because of their location as they are all near to the local shops and within easy walking distance from the 2 schools. They are, also, pleasing to the eye. They are just not affordable.

How many of us could afford big 4 bedrooms houses when we were young?

I know we couldn't.

How many of us could afford big 4 bedrooms houses when we were young?

A good point. Not too many, I suspect.

There's a 5-bedroomed house next door (we are terraced), it's a Grade II listed which might put some people off - but its sales price is considerably less than the new-builds, even less than the 4-bedroomed houses. My neighbour told me he'd not had a viewing for over a year. Those with larger families just cannot afford the houses on offer.

I do wonder just how many retirees there are in reality living in these huge houses that would make such a difference to the housing problem.

Dickens How many of us could afford big 4 bedrooms houses when we were young? A good point. Not too many, I suspect.

We couldn't afford new/big 65 years ago, nor new/big now.

I do wonder just how many retirees there are in reality living in these huge houses that would make such a difference to the housing problem.

As do I. That's not reality where we live.

I hate cleaning so although I wistfully drive past the nice big Victorian houses on the river, the reality of cleaning them and paying for the heating makes my rose tinted spectacles a little duller

So my husband and I have worked for 40 years ( a combined 80 years ) and have only recently paid off our mortgage and we should move for a younger generation ? I don't think so.

Dickens

JaneJudge

Younger people cannot afford big houses in many parts of the country. The problem isn't older people

That's it, in a nutshell.

Which is probably why the 4/5 bedroom new-builds in my town remain on the market. The reason is certainly not because of their location as they are all near to the local shops and within easy walking distance from the 2 schools. They are, also, pleasing to the eye. They are just not affordable.

Depends where you live. We used to live in Oxfordshire, High tech Silicon Triangle, builders mainly built 4 bed detached houses and sold them. We sold our large old house to a couple around 30. He was something in the city, she was a scientist in a research centre.

Builders do not build houses unless they have good reason to sell them. This is why you see so many half built estates these days with few tradesmen working on them.

The reason houses are not selling at the moment has nothing to do with affordability. There are plenty of people out there who want to move and can afford them. The problem is the very uncertain economic situation in this country and overseas, that mean many people have just put their plans, whether a new home, a new car, or even a holiday overseas, on hold until the economic situation is clearer.

Dear Doodledog, please stop putting ideas into the governments think tank we already pay enough and NO I don’t think older people should move out if they don’t want to. You may as well include single people too, when would it stop. It would be the beginning of a police state.

I have lived in my 3 bed end terrace grade II listed house for 40 years - raised my family here - retained through a messy divorce and ran, with DH #2, two successful businesses from here in the last 23 years - I'm very close to the High Street and supermarkets (walking distance) and have built friendships with neighbours some of whom have been here nearly as long as me. I have no wish to downsize even if there was something around here to downsize to - there are very few bungalows and I really can't see the benefit to anyone of moving to a 2 bed house with a postage stamp garden crammed into an estate full of young families - those homes are the only ones currently anywhere near affordable for my grandchildren.