Financial watchdog tells the elderly to downsize to tackle housing shortage

Daily Fail story (sorry)

Older homeowners who ‘sit quite happily in a very big house’ should be given more encouragement to sell up and downsize, it was claimed yesterday.

Ministers should look at ways to tackle the problem of retired people living in properties that are too big for them, says a major financial watchdog.

A senior official risked the wrath of millions of mortgage-free pensioners who remain in family homes when she said they may need to be steered towards moving to retirement housing.

Lynda Blackwell, head of mortgages at the Financial Conduct Authority, said Britain had a ‘real issue with the last-time buyer’. But her comments were described as ‘insulting’ and ‘unhelpful’ last night.
Critics said older property owners should not be seen as ‘home blockers’.

[BenMcr]

I personally have no issue with what is being said. It's not suggesting they are being forced to do anything, but the principle that you should consider living in a house appropriate to your needs is sound.

If we are to solve issues we current have with housing and society in the UK, then we have to be prepared to consider all options and actually talk about them.

[Chrysalis]

that would make the problem worse given the shortages are in small properties, so old people moving to smaller properties is bad not good.

[Ignitionnet]

The comments section is pretty entertaining. Gross, massive overreactions ahoy. Alongside complaints about patronising and denigrating pensioners which are beyond comedy given the bidding wards politicians have to bribe them for their votes.

It's simple - either give them incentives such as zero stamp duty and fixed estate agent costs to downsize, or tear up the banal Town and Country Planning Act, ignore complaints from NIMBYs whose primary concern in a sad number of cases is their property price, and build.

That said I'm not entirely sure what impact providing incentives to downsize will have. The government, in co-operation with the market, will still work to ensure those homes are ridiculously overpriced relative to incomes as they fear the fallout from house prices dropping back to historical averages.

It's neither in the politicians' or the big house builders' interests to supply the right properties in the right places in the required quantities. Some in the public and press go absolutely insane at the merest perceived slight to retirees and start handing out accusations of pitting the generations against each other. A bit late to worry about that.

[Osem]

Maybe the longer term aim is to fill all those great big under-occupied houses with migrants...

If someone owns a large house and wants to remain in it on their own that's their right IMHO. If successive governments had wanted to do something meaningful to sort out the housing problem they've had plenty of time to do so but simply lacked the required will and/or foresight.

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Osem

If someone owns a large house and wants to remain in it on their own that's their right IMHO.

Not aware anyone disputed that.

[arcimedes]

Speaking as one who actually tried to do that a few years ago we found that we could get an offer for our house (4 bedrooms) really easy but then came the problem. Could we find a smaller property and nearer the town centre? Of course not. And its got even worse now.

That's the challenge we will have in around 10 years or so if we decide to downsize - we would want to stay in the same area, and it seems all the bungalows are being bought, knocked down, and a four or five bedroomed house being built on the land.

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Hugh

That's the challenge we will have in around 10 years or so if we decide to downsize - we would want to stay in the same area, and it seems all the bungalows are being bought, knocked down, and a four or five bedroomed house being built on the land.

Interesting. Clearly there is demand even though said houses are over half a million a pop.

Obviously, the estate agents don't highlight that I live in the area....

[Ignitionnet]

Originally Posted by Hugh

Obviously, the estate agents don't highlight that I live in the area....

I should move there. I'll soon ensure it makes Beeston look like Kensington and Chelsea.

I am big on affordable housing after all. Never mind putting myself a couple of hundred grand in the negative equity hole

I have never looked on any of my houses (I have had 3, including this one) as an investment, just as a home - fortunately, having lived in this one for over 23 years, it has quadrupled in value (but so would any house we want to move to, which is why we have extended it three times...).

[v0id]

I think the shortage of houses for first time buyers is more to do with the buy to let crowd than it is the elderly in oversized homes.

[Chrysalis]

Originally Posted by Hugh

That's the challenge we will have in around 10 years or so if we decide to downsize - we would want to stay in the same area, and it seems all the bungalows are being bought, knocked down, and a four or five bedroomed house being built on the land.

Brought this issue up with a family member he is an accountant and works for a company who provides housing for vulnerable people.

Anyway he pointed out to me that one bed flat's or bungalows are less profitable than say 2 or 3 bed houses, because for 1 bed flats you have a kitchen, bathroom and living room allocated to each bedroom, whilst you can add a 2nd or 3rd bedroom as a house and still only the one living room, bathroom etc. The company he works for puts all single people in hostels or bedsits unless they single women with children who came from an abusive relationship, they tend to get given the very hard to get single bed flats/bungalows for the good of the child.

This is also a reason why councils have under occupancy issues, they had empty 2/3 bed properties and massive waiting lists of single people so allocated these properties but now those people got affected by the bedroom tax with nowhere to move them to.

[Ramrod]

It's as if the Financial Conduct Authority hasn't considered that pensioners have minds of their own and those that would like to downsize haven't thought about it already or even acted accordingly. I'm sure that there are old folk all over the country who, on reading the dictat, sat up and were amazed that they hadn't thought of that first!

---------- Post added at 18:16 ---------- Previous post was at 18:13 ----------

Originally Posted by v0id

I think the shortage of houses for first time buyers is more to do with the buy to let crowd than it is the elderly in oversized homes.

A first time buyer can always get one over on a buy to let buyer because the btl buyer has to make a profit on the property and the margins are already fairly slim. A btl buyer is looking to get a property under value whereas a 'normal' buyer can bid a smidge more and secure the property from under the btl's nose.