Last
week, I wrote an article on the plight of the Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells homeowners and Royal Tunbridge Wells
landlords alike, as I discussed a couple of months ago, is our mature members
of the population of Royal Tunbridge Wells. In that previous article, I stated
that the current OAP’s (65+ yrs in age) in Royal Tunbridge Wells were sitting
on £2.8bn of residential property ... however, I didn’t talk in depth about the
‘Baby Boomers’, the 50yr to 64yr old Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Royal
Tunbridge Wells, there are 3,607 households whose owners are aged between 50yrs
and 64yrs and about to pay their mortgage off. That property is worth, in
today’s prices, £1.6bn. There are an additional 3,839 mortgage free Royal
Tunbridge Wells households, owned by 50yr to 64yr olds, worth £1.8bn in today’s
prices, meaning...
Royal Tunbridge Wells Baby Boomers and Royal Tunbridge
Wells OAP’s are sitting on £6.3bn worth of Royal Tunbridge Wells Property
These Royal
Tunbridge Wells Baby Boomers and OAP’s are sitting on 13,420 Royal Tunbridge
Wells’ 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 Royal Tunbridge
Wells (and the Country) homeowners to downsize at the right time will also
enable younger Royal Tunbridge Wells 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 Royal Tunbridge Wells and the Planning Dept. should play their part,
as should landlords and property investors to ensure Royal Tunbridge Wells’ ‘Generation
Trapped’ can find suitable property locally, close to friends, family and
facilities.
