Downsizing & the Property Market

According to Zoopla, "the average Brit moves home every 23 years. Over the course of their lives, that means that people will move around 8 times". I don't quite get the maths of that - you would live for 184 years surely? Anyway, I've moved 8 times in 73 years so far.

My home isn't exactly ideal for someone single approaching old age - Too big, 3 floors, 2 flights of stairs & no facility to live on the ground floor. It is modern, light & airy, with a lovely courtyard & balcony, (but not the responsibility of looking after a garden), & in a very good location.

So many people will be in the situation I face of downsizing for the last time. Contemplating a move to a flat or some sort of  "retirement village". The reality, according to BBC "Money Box," is that "according to research, 51% of retirement properties built and sold between 2000 and 2010, and then sold again between 2006 and 2016, suffered a loss in value". The average was 17% but it could be more than 50%. I am amazed.

Add to that the fact that these properties are almost always leasehold, as are flats, & have a variable maintenance charge which you have no control over. It all begins to look like a bit of a poisoned chalice for the elderly.

My question is, given the huge housing problem we have in the UK, why the Government don't step in to give my ever increasing demographic a better option? We don't necessarily want to live in a ghetto for the elderly. Mixed communities are much better. What we need is to get away from the current mindset of a mini castle with it's own land for everyone. We need to look at different models for blocks of flats in Europe. Possibly a mixture of low & high rise, with a lot of accessible green space. Kevin Mc Cloud of Grand Designs has some good ideas about new build communities.
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/sep/04/grand-designs-presenter-kevin-mccloud-seeks-to-raise-50m-to-build-600-homes-a-year

People like me need to be able to free up family homes & move to somewhere better designed for their final home. The impact all the way down the housing chain would be really good. It won't be done well by profit driven private builders. Current new housing is generally badly designed & shoddy.

 

I wish my generation could be encouraged & facilitated to set up private co-ownership associations to convert or build. But that & any other option needs Government support. Think of the wealth we could put into this. We could help in the design process so that the accommodation was really well adapted for our needs, but also adaptable for anyone. An older example of what I'm thinking about is Ritchie Court in Oxford, which I have seen. www.ritchiecourt.com/

There needs to be new, creative thinking, about the property market & how it should meet the needs of real people of all ages. The old ways are clearly not working. I don't necessarily mean actual self build obviously, but self management & financing is posssible for all sorts of people, young & old.

Everyone would benefit - it seems a no brainer to me.