A recent
report by Legal & General stated that since the pandemic, many older
homeowners had put their plans to move home ‘on ice’. It said that fewer OAP
homeowners are planning to downsize from their large family homes after the
pandemic made them realise the actual value of their local community and space.
Historically,
many OAPs move home to another part of the country to live near their grown-up
children. Yet the pandemic has shown that OAPs can live quite well locally
without moving to a strange new town to live near their children. The support
networks of their friends in their existing community has emphasised the
significance and importance of having friends close by.
Yet this
trend isn’t just for OAPs moving away. Many Neath OAPs who aren’t moving away
from Neath (because their family is still local) are also deciding to stay put
longer for the same reasons. Even though they are rattling around their large 3
and 4 bed detached family homes, they love the space their large Neath homes
offer.
And for
those Neath OAPs who are wanting to move, the issue is that the choice of
properties they could buy to downsize is limited. This scarcity of properties
for sale, called the ‘housing crunch’, can be seen by that lack of choice of
properties for OAPs to move to.
Only 37 bungalows are for sale within a 3-mile radius of Neath.
In a
‘normal’ Neath property market, I would expect this to be double or even triple
this number.
All these factors
combined means these OAP “eternal homeowners” threaten to make the
scarcity of properties coming on to the market even worse!
So, why is
this an issue for everyone else?
Well, because
Neath OAPs aren’t moving from their large 3 and 4 bed detached homes to smaller
bungalows or ground floor apartments, this is creating a blockage on the
housing ladder. Neath families, in their 30’s and 40’s, are desperate for
larger 3 and 4 bed detached homes for their ever-expanding families. But if the
OAP sellers of those family houses aren’t moving, they will remain overcrowded
in their existing homes.
Let’s look
at the numbers first.
- There are 4.42m UK over-65 property owners,
and their properties are worth a combined £1.53 trillion (which covers just
under three-quarters of the national debt).
- 71.3% of those aged 65 and over own their home
(although 1 in 10 still has a mortgage).
- There are 6,353 Neath homes occupied by OAPs,
representing 29% of all the households in Neath (notable compared to the UK
average of 31%).
- 88.2% of those Neath OAPs are retired, meaning
the rest are still working! (The national average is 83.4%).
- The total value of the property in Neath owned
by OAPs is £736.3m.
- 69.7% of Neath OAPs own their home outright
(compared to the national average of 65.8%), and 5.8% of Neath OAPs own their
home, albeit with a mortgage (compared to the national average of 5.5%).
Many Neath OAP homeowners simply
love the house and neighbourhood they live in, often living in their homes for
over 25+ years. I talk to many mature Neath homeowners who say they are afraid
to put their home on the market, because they believe (incorrectly) if they
find a buyer for their home and can’t find another property to go to … they
would be made homeless.
I can only share my opinions on
the matter. The one thing I have seen in my years in the property market is that
so many Neath people leave it too late to move home. So, when they do move,
they aren’t fit enough to do all the jobs in their new home. Indeed, is it
better to move home in your late 60’s/early 70’s, meaning you can still do the
little things to make your new house a home, rather than in your late 70’s/early
80’s and find the jobs are much harder to do?
Also, if you are worried about
finding your next home, get yourself on the mailing lists of all the Neath estate
agents. A recent study showed only 1 in
6 buyers were on an agent’s mailing list for the property they bought.
Therefore, by being on the mailing list, you will get to know of any suitable
properties coming on the market before most others. This is important in this
housing market; a property is often sold STC before it hits Rightmove (to a
buyer that put themselves on the agent’s mailing list).
By downsizing, you could use the
additional funds to top up your pension, take the family on a holiday of a
lifetime (once it’s safe to do so of course), or help your children get on the
housing ladder themselves with a deposit for their own home.
I fully appreciate many of the 4,807
OAP homeowners in Neath have many reasons to stay, be that sentimental,
friendship, support networks etc. My advice to all of you is to do your
homework, put yourselves on the mailing lists of agents (in case the property
of your dreams comes up) and do what is best for you. By downsizing, you are
giving yourself better options for your quality of life and massive
opportunities to spend more time on the things you enjoy like your family,
holidays, or even helping others.
The choice, as they say, is yours.
