Calls for more retirement homes

According to a new national poll by Populus, more than 3 million older people want to move to a smaller home but aren't able to. The report has called on ministers to set a goal of building 30,000 retirement homes a year which is around 10% of the annual house building target. 

This new target will see an increase from around 8,000 completions a year. These results also comes with growing pressure to make the stamp duty holiday permanent for older people who are downsizing into specialist housing. 

"Cutting stamp duty is not the only policy that can work across the generational divide to drive housing market transactions. To get results here, the Chancellor and the Secretary of State should also consider measures to encourage the building of more private retirement housing. This approach could help older and younger buyers, with the research in this report showing that building more specialist retirement housing can stimulate both ends of the market." 

Retirement housing releases less specialist homes for other buyers. Populus found that two thirds of new build retirement properties will release a suitable home for a first-time buyer.