The dash to downsize
Sellers trading down are the biggest players on the housing market
DOWNSIZING is de rigueur. Research from Lloyds TSB reveals it’s currently the main reason why people sell their homes, and is the most significant section of the market — with 51 per cent of buyers looking to trade down within the next three years.
By comparison, only 22 per cent are planning to trade up.
What’s more, the downsizers are getting younger. More than one in four are aged 46 to 55, and five per cent are aged 36 to 45.
There are plenty of reasons for choosing to ‘live small’ in the current economic climate.
One is that the costs of remortgaging are prohibitive. Another is wanting to release capital to help grown-up children on to the property ladder, especially in London.
Many other people simply need to save money on outgoings.
Lucien Cook of Savills estate agents says: ‘ Downsizers have become critical to the market. They don’t require mortgage finance, and they help others into the market. The shift of equity from one generation to the next is key to getting the housing market moving.’
In buoyant London, some sellers are cashing in on premium areas and moving to less fashionable ones that have a larger margin to appreciate. Country properties have been faring less well, particu-larly without the traditional flow of money from London.
The North is doing particularly badly, and downsizers are having to adjust their expectations and reduce asking prices to keep their financial plans on track.
Helen Farmiloe and her husband Paul, who are in their early 50s, moved from Brixton to Yorkshire 23 years ago. They bought the impressive seven-bedroom manor house Holmleigh, near Holmfirth, five miles from Huddersfield. Now, with five children aged 15 to 23, they have decided to downsize to a flat in Central London and radically change their lives.
Helen says: ‘There is a huge North-South divide in the economy, and we need to be near London for work. But the North is priced low and London is high, so it is a great time for someone to move up if they are in a position to do so.’
The worry about downsizing is there are fewer buyers for large country houses. The Holmfirth property originally went on the market at £1.35 million and has been reduced to £995,000, through Strutt & Parker.
For Fiona Finnemore, also in her 50s, a serious eye problem made her consider selling the pretty five-bedroom house she has shared with husband Patrick for the past 16 years in a village north of Oxford.
Initially on the market in May at £795,000, it is now attracting offers of about £660,000 through Kemp & Kemp. Meanwhile, the couple have had an offer accepted on a two-bedroom apartment near the Royal Crescent in Bath, at close to the guide of price of £435,000. They are also hoping to buy a small holiday home in Devon.
‘We are excited about it,’ says Fiona. ‘I’ve loved the country but we want to walk to the theatre. We will be able to do much more with our free time.’
FOR many early downsizers, new-build developments offer an attractive low-maintenance option. Ruth Redman and her husband John have moved from a four-bedroom home near Ampthill, Bedfordshire, to a two-bedroom apartment at the nearby Limes development, where the average age of downsizers is about 55, according to developer Storey Homes.
Ruth, 60, says: ‘The location could not be better. It is peaceful and quiet here, and the view is breath-taking, yet I can walk to Waitrose and be in the town centre within an easy ten-minute stroll.
‘ With no mortgage and a decluttered home, we can now do all those things we enjoy, and have more time for our children, grand-children and ourselves.’ Prices at The Limes start at £199,950.
Strutt & Parker Harrogate, 01423 706776, struttandparker.com; kemp and kemp, 01865 510000, kempandkemp.co.uk; Storey Homes, 01525 841906, storey-homes.co.uk.