Generation Trapped - Should OAP’s of Bexley be forced to downsize?

This was a question posed to me a few weeks ago, after an interesting discussion with some clients about our mature members of Bexley society and the fact many retirees feel trapped in their homes. After working hard for many years and buying a home for themselves and their family, the children have subsequently flown the nest and now they are left to rattle around in a big house. Many feel trapped in their big homes (hence I have dubbed these Bexley home owning mature members of our society, ‘Generation Trapped’).

So, should we force OAP Bexley homeowners to downsize?

Well one view is that we, as a society, should encourage, through building, tax breaks and social acceptance that it’s a good thing to downsize. But should the Government force OAP’s?

Well, one of the biggest reasons OAP’s move home is health (or lack of it).

Looking at the statistics for Bexley (or DA5 to be precise), of the 4,040 homeowners who are 65 years and older, whilst 2,326 of them described themselves in good or very good health, a sizeable 1,295 home owning OAPs described themselves as in fair health and 419 in bad or very bad health.

10.37% of Bexley home owning OAP’s are in poor health

But if you look at the figures for the whole of London Borough of Bexley Council, there are only 955 specialist retirement homes that one could buy (if they were in fact for sale) and 1,306 homes available to rent from the Council and other specialist providers (again- you would be waiting for dead man’s shoes to get your foot in the door) and many older homeowners wouldn’t feel comfortable with the idea of renting a retirement property after enjoying the security of owning their own home for most of their adult lives.

My intuition tells me the majority ‘would be’ Bexley downsizers could certainly afford to move but are staying put in bigger family homes because they can't find a suitable smaller property. The fact is there simply aren’t enough bungalows for the healthy older members of the Bexley population and specialist retirement properties for the ones who aren’t in such good health ... we need to build more appropriate houses in Bexley.

The Government's Housing White Paper could have solved so many problems with the UK housing market, including the issue of homing our aging population. Instead, it ended up feeling annoyingly ambiguous. Forcing our older generation to move with such measures as a punitive taxation (say a tax on wasted bedrooms for people who are retired) would be the wrong thing to do. Instead of the stick – maybe the Government could use the carrot tactics and offered tax breaks for downsizers. Who knows – but something has to happen?

...and come to think about it, isn’t the word ‘downsize’ such an awful word?  I prefer to use the word ‘re-size’ instead of ‘down-size’- as the other phrase feels like they are lowering themselves, as though they are having to downgrade themselves in their retirement (and let’s be frank – no one likes to be downgraded).

The simple fact is we are living longer as a population and constantly growing with increased birth rates and immigration. So, what I would say to all the homeowners and property owning public of Bexley is ... more houses and apartments need to be built in the Bexley area, especially more specialist retirement properties and bungalows. The Government had a golden opportunity with the White Paper – and were sadly found lacking.

And a message to my Bexley property investor readers whilst this issue gets sorted in the coming decade(s)  – maybe seriously consider doing up older bungalows – people will pay handsomely for them – be they for sale or even rent? Just a thought!