The UK’s last time buyer market has reached a total of £820 billion in value, found research from Cebr, the economics consultancy and Legal & General.
This sector, of those buying their last home, also has 5.3m under-occupied properties. Within these homes, there are a total of 7.7m spare bedrooms.
The wealth of this market is expected to hit £1.2 trillion by 2020.
Director at Legal & General, Stephen Smith, says: “We currently have a housing crisis in the UK and there is a chronic shortage of appropriate properties to meet this huge demand. Government policy is focused on schemes to build more homes for first time buyers and to help people get onto the property ladder. Initiatives like Help to Buy, which encourage the building of more homes, are always very welcome.
“However, at present, the last time buyer market is being hugely overlooked and as our figures show it could help to solve the UK housing crisis.
“We need to make it easier for older people to even consider moving by relieving the onerous burden of Stamp Duty, creating better options for equity release and providing real alternatives for older people in terms of the types of home that they can live in and the infrastructure that surrounds them.
“If we are able to get that right we will help older people in the UK move to homes which better fit their lifestyles and their needs and at the same time unlock large swathes of valuable housing stock for growing families.”1
1 http://www.propertyreporter.co.uk/property/uks-last-time-buyer-market-swells-to-820bn.html