Shortage of bungalows threatens retirement dream
PENSIONERS may miss out on their dream retirement bungalow as the total number for sale drops to a record low.
With fewer bungalows being built, experts are warning that retirees could soon find it harder to find a house which is suitable for their old age.
Bungalows now account for less than seven per cent of homes for sale across the UK, research has found.
The shortage is particularly acute in London, where just 129 bungalows are currently for sale, accounting for just 0.9 per cent of homes on the market.
Other cities where bungalows make up less than 2.5 per cent of sale stock are Aberdeen, with only four on sale, Portsmouth and Cambridge, where there are 12, and Oxford with 16.
In the North, Manchester was the only city to have a shortage of bungalows, with 77 for sale, making up just 3.8 per cent of estate agents’ stock.
But seaside towns, which are popular with OAPs, offer more than their share of the single-storey dwellings.
The town with the most bungalows up for sale was Worthing, West Sussex, with 134 – 24.1 per cent of per cent of properties. Bournemouth had 140, equal to 21.9 per cent, and Eastbourne in East Sussex had 97 or 20.1 per cent.
Online estate agent HouseSimple analysed data from property portal Rightmove. In 73 per cent of the areas examined, bungalows accounted for less than 10 per cent of homes on the market. Just one in every 14 houses listed was a bungalow.
Alex Gosling of HouseSimple said: “With fewer bungalows being built and the existing stock declining or off the market indefinitely, there is a crisis brewing that could put a terrific strain on the care home system and NHS.”