“Last Time Buyer” Market Worth £820 Billion

A successful downsizing policy for 'last-time buyers' could play a key role in solving the UK's housing crisis, according to a new report. Research from Legal & General and Cebr shows that there are approximately 5.3 million under-occupied homes in the UK with 3.3 million last-time buyers (LTB) looking to downsize. The LTB market owns 7.7m spare bedrooms and a total of £820 billion of housing wealth, set to reach £1.2 trillion by 2020. Key research findings include:

·         A typical LTB lives in a four-bed house, but wants a two-bed property

·         Almost a third of older homeowners considered downsizing in the last five years; only 7% actually did

·         A majority (58%) put it off until after 70; a quarter until 80 or older.

Read more on the CEBR website.