MSE News: Rise in housing market asking prices

silvercar

carolt wrote:

- she's not buying yet, but starting to look around - might cheer her up to know that retirement flats may be more open to offers than others

Definitely.

A friend is looking for her Mum. Prices are very negotiable. Often the sales are as a result of inheritance and so people aren't selling something they have purchased and are more eager to get the sale out of the way and don't seem attached to a value for their home. Also service charges can be high for retirment homes and this has a downward pressure on prices.

Harry_Powell

Out of interest, is there any way of restricting the purchase of 'retirement flats' to just people of a certain age? Isn't that against ageism laws?

If younger people do move in (and if these flats are such a bargain, then I'd imagine young singles and couples would be lining up) then wouldn't the noise make the oldies miserable?

Perhaps it's just that I had a bad experience of flats when I was renting, but I absolutely hated living in them - doors slamming, people coming and going at all hours, parties, people sitting on their balconies chatting loudly all night. New build apartments seemed worse as they had paper thin walls and floors, but even more robust flats had the same problems.

My folks live on an estate that has a lot of bungalows and over the last 10 years, they have seen the demographics change from being proedominantly over 50's to having a lot of singles and families move in as they were priced out of larger family homes. If this happens in a 'retirement complex', it'd be a nightmare for older people (no stereotyping here, but generally older people wont be rolling in at 4am, drunk and talking/singing loudly!)