Last week, I wrote an article on the plight of the Warminster
20 something’s often referred to by the press as ‘Generation Rent’. Attitudes
to renting have certainly changed over the last twenty years and as my analysis
suggested, this change is likely to be permanent. In the article, whilst a
minority of this Generation Rent feel trapped, the majority don’t – making
renting a choice not a predicament. The Royal Institution of Chartered
Surveyors (RICS) predicted that the private rental sector is likely to grow substantially
by 1.8m households across the UK in the next 8 years, with demand for rental
property unlikely to slow and newly formed households continuing to choose the
rental market as opposed to buying.
However, my
real concern for Warminster homeowners and Warminster landlords alike, as I
discussed a couple of months ago, is our mature members of the population of Warminster.
In that previous article, I stated that the current OAP’s (65+ yrs in age) in Warminster
were sitting on £719.7m of residential property ... however, I didn’t talk in
depth about the ‘Baby Boomers’, the 50yr to 64yr old Warminster people and what
their properties are worth – and more importantly, how the current state of
affairs could be holding back those younger Generation Renters.
In Warminster,
there are 1,358 households whose owners are aged between 50yrs and 64yrs and
about to pay their mortgage off. That property is worth, in today’s prices, £392.7m.
There are an additional 1,294 mortgage free Warminster households, owned by
50yr to 64yr olds, worth £374.2m in today’s prices, meaning...
Warminster Baby Boomers and Warminster OAP’s are sitting
on £1.48bn worth of Warminster Property
These Warminster
Baby Boomers and OAP’s are sitting on 5,141 Warminster properties and many of
them feel trapped in their homes, and hence I have dubbed them ‘Generation
Trapped’.
Recently, the
English Housing Survey stated 49% of these properties owned by the Generation
Trapped, as I have dubbed them, are ‘under-occupied’ (under-occupied classed as
having at least two bedrooms more than needed). These houses could be better
utilised by younger families, but research carried out by the Prudential
suggest in Britain it’s estimated that only one in ten older people downsize
while in the USA for example one in five do so.
The growing
numbers of older homeowners who want to downsize their home are often put off
by the difficulties of moving. The charity United for all Ages, suggested
recently many are put off by the lack of housing options, 19% by the hassle and
cost of moving, 14% by having to declutter their possessions and 14% by family
reasons such as staying close to children and grandchildren.
Helping mature
Warminster (and the Country) homeowners to downsize at the right time will also
enable younger Warminster people to find the homes they need – meaning every
generation wins, both young and old. However, to ensure downsizing works, as a
Country, we need more choices for these ‘last time buyers’.
Theresa May
and Philip Hammond can do their part and consider stamp duty tax breaks for
downsizers, our local Council in Warminster and the Planning Dept. should play
their part, as should landlords and property investors to ensure Warminster’s
‘Generation Trapped’ can find suitable property locally, close to friends,
family and facilities.
