OAPs are getting jobs and downsizing to beat cost-of-living crisis

NEWBURY retirees have to make tough choices with the onset of the cost-of-living crisis.

Growing inflation, unpredictable financial markets and the high cost of living mean many former retired people are returning to work in what has been dubbed the ‘great unretirement’. Some are even bringing forward their downsizing house move. Looking at the changing job market, July saw the most significant month-on-month rise in OAPs working since records began in the 1990s when one in 23 of all the UK’s OAPs went back into employment.

That now means 752 Newbury over-65s are in gainful employment (ie, one in eight of them). As a backdrop, the number of working 65-year-olds and above has been increasing since the mid-90s when 323 Newbury OAPs were employed. Yet, July’s figures were the largest monthly jump on record by a distance. Looking at the changing property market, I have been speaking to many OAP homeowners who are having to bring their downsizing plans forward several years to survive the cost-of-living crisis. The money generated from the downsizing will cover their housekeeping and massive energy bills. So why would someone want to downsize? Mostly, their homes are too big for their needs as their children have flown the nest decades before. The Government classifies a property as under-occupied if it has two or more spare bedrooms.

How big is the under-occupation issue in the UK? Of the 4.52m British homes owned by those aged 65 and over, 3.04m have at least two spare bedrooms. Looking locally, 13,544 of the 23,056 West Berkshire OAPs have two or more spare bedrooms.

You might ask why this is important.

Well, to start, it’s holding back families that need the bedrooms and space these larger houses offer if the older occupants won’t move on. Also, these larger homes cost more to run in terms of energy bills, building insurance and council tax.

From October (even with the recent energy bill cap) it will cost on average £354 per month in gas and electricity alone for a large four-bed detached home (where occupants are home all day).

So why are there so many mature homeowners in their 70s, 80s and even 90s still living in houses that are too large for their day-to-day requirements?

There are several reasons for this. One is the obvious emotional attachment to the family home they have often owned since the 1970s and 1980s. The second is to escape the hassle and costs of the house move, and finally, the small number of suitable properties for them to buy to attract them to make a move.

The growing energy bills have provoked many of those mature homeowners, who maybe can’t or do not wish to get a job, to re-evaluate their home life strategy. I am seeing an everincreasing number of mature homeowners downsizing to diminish their expenditures. So how much could mature homeowners gain by downsizing? The numbers are intriguing when looking at the average difference between the sale price and the subsequent purchase price of the average downsizer.

Downsizers could unlock an average of £152,710 per household.

Not only will homeowners earn this lump of cash for their retirement, but they will also save around £178 per month in lower energy bills, buildings insurance and council tax bills.