Michael and his spouse have been pondering for some time about shifting from their house in Surrey, the place they’ve lived for 25 years and raised their two sons. “We’re rattling round a bit, however there was no apparent catalyst for shifting — we hadn’t discovered wherever to go and all our mates are right here.” But final month, the 61-year-old retired businessman began chatting with property brokers to worth his six-bedroom home, set in 2.5 acres of land. He was quoted a determine of round £2.75mn.
“All of the discuss of Labour taking a look at inheritance tax within the Price range has made us assume: let’s simply get on with it,” says Michael, who needed to talk below a pseudonym. “In fact, we will’t promote earlier than October 30, however we wish to transfer someplace smaller and go cash on to our sons whereas we will. The temper music undoubtedly appears to be turning towards older folks proudly owning massive homes.”
UK property brokers have the best variety of houses on their books for a decade, with the variety of properties available on the market 12 per cent greater than it was in October final yr, in accordance with Rightmove.
In addition to an increase within the variety of landlords and homeowners of second houses promoting (prompted by fears over capital features tax rises, which now look to be unfounded), numerous different elements — excessive vitality and mortgage prices, and even the plan to cost VAT on personal faculty charges — are spurring extra folks into contemplating promoting bigger houses to maneuver someplace cheaper. With hypothesis mounting that the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will announce sweeping adjustments to inheritance tax within the Price range subsequent week, this begs the query: might Labour’s tax insurance policies begin pushing extra folks to downsize?
Since Labour gained the election in July, property brokers say they’ve seen a notable enhance in folks enquiring about promoting their massive houses. “The change of presidency and potential adjustments in tax insurance policies, particularly round inheritance tax, have undoubtedly been the set off,” says Joanna Cocking, head of personal workplace at Hamptons property company. “Whereas usually folks say they’re promoting as a result of the kids have left house or the home is getting too massive for them to handle, the dialog just lately has been: ‘I don’t must personal an enormous asset like this and I’m involved about Labour’s plans’.”
This early trace of a change in angle follows a interval that has seen falling numbers of individuals promoting to maneuver someplace smaller. There have been fewer than 100,000 downsizers within the yr to March 2024, lower than 10 per cent of the market, in accordance with Savills property company, though property gross sales throughout the board had been down in comparison with earlier years; in accordance with the Land Registry Home Value Index, complete gross sales in England and Wales fell by 22 per cent in 2023.
Among the many deterrents to downsizing till now has been the issue of discovering a purchaser, on condition that these upsizing have been going through excessive mortgage charges. “One of many largest challenges for downsizers just lately has been not all the time getting the worth they had been anticipating for his or her home,” says Jemma Scott, companion at The Shopping for Resolution.
Nonetheless, since mortgage rates of interest have began coming down and home costs have drifted upwards, the urge for food for downsizing seems to have picked up. Jackson-Stops property company has seen a 21 per cent rise in downsizer candidates within the yr to October in comparison with the earlier yr, whereas Knight Frank says that, throughout the UK this yr, it has seen nearly 4 per cent of consumers citing downsizing as their purpose for shifting — this may not sound like a lot, however it’s the highest degree for the reason that property company began recording the info a decade in the past (at which period it stood at 1.8 per cent).
“Because the housing market recovers, we’d anticipate to see ranges of downsizing rise, notably if we see older owners face a higher publicity to inheritance tax,” says Lucian Prepare dinner, head of analysis at Savills.
Over-fifties who personal their very own houses now maintain 78 per cent of all privately held housing wealth within the UK, whereas there are 1.3mn owners in England and Wales aged 65 and over residing in a four-bedroom home, which is more likely to be too massive for his or her wants, in accordance with analysis by Savills. If this technology moved, it might unencumber houses for households.
Nonetheless, the boundaries to downsizing may be vital. Savills says the over-sixties account for 44 per cent of all owners however solely 17 per cent of house consumers, reflecting their reluctance to maneuver. Most clearly, “stamp responsibility is a big transactional price that places off many,” says Richard Rogerson, chief government of RFR Property.
And stamp responsibility will rise subsequent yr. Reeves is predicted to verify within the Price range that the “nil-rate” threshold for paying stamp responsibility will fall from £250,000 to £125,000 in March — this implies the invoice for somebody shifting home will enhance by as much as £2,500. Nonetheless, “on condition that £2,500 isn’t big within the scheme of shopping for an costly property, we don’t anticipate it to have a lot of an impression [in this market],” says Aneisha Beveridge, head of analysis at Hamptons. “It’s on the decrease finish that arising with the additional money may be difficult.”
So what makes shifting worthwhile? To make the downsizing sums stack up after stamp responsibility and shifting prices, a significant quantity of fairness must be launched, both by shifting to a decrease worth property or space. Savills says staying in the identical space and downsizing from a four-bedroom house to a two-bedroom house in England and Wales might unlock a median of £300,000, however the features are a lot higher within the dearer south-east of England. As an example, in Elmbridge, Surrey, a downsizer might launch nearly £675,000 of fairness (earlier than any shifting prices), however in Northumberland, the achieve is lower than £250,000.
However there’s an absence of appropriate properties for downsizers. The Mayhew Evaluation, printed in 2022, discovered that solely 7,000 houses are constructed for older folks every year. It known as for 50,000 items to be constructed yearly with a purpose to sustain with an over-65 inhabitants that’s set to extend from 11.2mn to 17.2mn by 2040.
“Typically, new developments focus extra on first-time consumers — and embody incentives within the type of authorities schemes — or the household market,” says Lucy McIlroy, director of Winkworth property company’s Bathtub workplace. “Plus, retirement villages don’t enchantment to everybody.”
Jean Milson, 75, is promoting the five-bedroom home in Canford Cliffs, Dorset, the place she has lived for nearly 50 years. “It’s a wrench as a result of the home nonetheless has reminders of my husband and kids and it’s in an exquisite spot,” says Milson, who was widowed a decade in the past and has put her house available on the market for £2.5mn. Milson had been pondering of downsizing for some time — it was concern of Labour’s inheritance tax insurance policies that lastly prompted her to promote.
Inheritance tax is levied on the worth of property and different property after dying. On paper, it’s paid by estates value greater than £325,000, though numerous guidelines and exemptions imply that many households can, in observe, go on property value £1mn to their kids tax-free.
Many houses exceed this. Property worth inflation over current years signifies that, throughout Britain, the variety of houses value at the very least £1mn has risen by 28 per cent since 2019. There are actually an estimated 670,100 houses valued at £1mn or extra, nearly half of that are in London with 155,085 within the south-east of England, in accordance with Savills.
The wealthiest households are sometimes in a position to minimise their inheritance tax liabilities utilizing trusts and complicated property planning. Just below 4 per cent of estates paid inheritance tax in 2020-21. Nonetheless, speculation is now building that, with a purpose to elevate extra money, the chancellor will goal the seven-year gifting rule, which sees property given to dependants change into freed from inheritance tax after seven years, as long as the individual making the present continues to be alive. Reeves is known to be contemplating extending that interval to 10 years. “This concern has actually targeted folks’s minds to promote,” says Charlie Warner, companion in shopping for company Heaton & Companions. “They need to have the ability to go as a lot as potential on to the subsequent technology.”
“Accelerating plans to downsize and present a number of the fairness to descendants, to begin the clock ticking as quickly as potential, makes a whole lot of sense,” says Heather Powell, companion and head of property on the accountancy agency Blick Rothenberg. “Encouraging folks to downsize to unencumber bigger houses for households might even be seen as a optimistic transfer by the federal government,” she provides. “Thoughts you, I don’t assume we’ll see any stamp responsibility reduction for downsizers, which might actually encourage them to maneuver from houses which are too massive for them.”
Amongst those that are selecting to downsize, there are indicators that there’s a broadening of profile. There was a rise in youthful folks buying and selling down the ladder, in lots of cases on account of excessive mortgage prices and vitality payments which have risen considerably up to now 5 years. Plus Labour’s plan so as to add 20 per cent VAT to highschool charges.
Hamptons property company says 40 per cent of all its downsizers are considerably buying and selling down in worth by shifting to a house that’s much less than half the worth of their earlier house, up from 30 per cent in 2019. Extra downsizers additionally nonetheless have a mortgage — this yr, 55 per cent of downsizer strikes had been paid for in money, down from 62 per cent 5 years in the past. “All of this means that persons are downsizing at a youthful age as a result of they nonetheless have a mortgage and are attempting to cut back the funds to a extra manageable degree,” says David Fell, senior analyst at Hamptons.
Sarah and her husband are promoting their five-bedroom house in Wadhurst, East Sussex, to maneuver to a less expensive home in a village to the east and unencumber about £200,000 to place in the direction of prep faculty charges for his or her two kids. “The fairness we launch and the cash we hope to avoid wasting from not working a bigger home, which we don’t really feel we’d like, will go in the direction of personal faculty charges and a extra comfy way of life,” says Sarah, 39.
Fiona Penny, a property finder who works in Kent and East Sussex and helps Sarah, is more and more coming throughout folks of their thirties and forties trying to downsize. “They usually say that if issues had been completely different, they might be trying to purchase a much bigger house now however mortgage and vitality prices are a lot greater than they had been and one thing’s received to present in the event that they maintain the personal education.”
Nonetheless, some downsizers have managed to profit from hypothesis over Labour’s tax adjustments, making the most of rising numbers of second houses being put available on the market in (seemingly mistaken) anticipation that the Price range would enhance capital features tax on them.
Nigel Bishop, founding father of Recoco Property Search, just lately helped a pair promoting their four-bedroom London house of 35 years to purchase in Falmouth, Cornwall. “That they had a funds of £1mn however couldn’t discover something appropriate till extra second houses began coming available on the market over the summer time,” says Bishop, who was capable of finding them a two-bedroom flat overlooking the shoreline.
With Labour’s proposed tax adjustments making extra folks take into consideration shifting, might these ripples begin to construct to greater ranges of downsizing? “Coverage may assist tilt these individuals who had been already considering downsizing into doing it,” says Neal Hudson, residential analyst and founding father of BuiltPlace.
Home & Dwelling Unlocked
Don’t miss our weekly publication, an inspiring, informative edit of the information and developments in international property, interiors, structure and gardens. Sign up here.
Nonetheless, Hudson provides, “Rising vitality prices over the previous few years may have made folks take into consideration why they’re nonetheless rattling round in a big house. Expectations for home costs are additionally vital. Over the previous few many years owners have been rewarded handsomely for having a big home as a result of they’ve benefited from vital home worth development. With home costs not anticipated to go up a lot within the coming years, there’s much less of an incentive to have your cash in property — so extra folks might promote.”
A correction was made to Charlie Warner’s identify
Discover out about our newest tales first — observe @ft_houseandhome on Instagram
