Do people really downsize to release money?

beeza650

I don't know of anyone who's downsized. All my relatives stayed right where they were until they died or went to a nursing home. Do people really downsize? Please read on...
I'm in a £600k house and have about the same in savings outside of my pension. I'm 50, my partner is 40, my youngest of 2 daughters is 5. We need a house with more downstairs space.
I could really do with a chunk of my savings in retirement so do I spend it all now on a house with a view to downsize at 75ish or do I spend less  on the assumption I probably won't want to downsize.
It would be great to hear people's thoughts.
Bit more info, I'd be buying a large 4 or 5 with 1/4 acre at least. My hobby is DIYand classic vehicles so invariably I will accumulate even more junk and vehicles / motorcycles than I do already.

Newly_retired

Yes, we downsized, from a 5 bedroomed house to a 3 bed plus potential to use a downstairs room as a bedroom.

oldernonethewiser

My in-laws downsized years ago from a five bedroom farm house to a two bedroom flat.

Really depends on your needs & wants.

beeza650

Newly_retired said:

Yes, we downsized, from a 5 bedroomed house to a 3 bed plus potential to use a downstairs room as a bedroom.

At what age please? Kids? Grandkids? I'm thinking in my circumstances with my kids being young and my brother's even younger that by the time I don't need the space I'm going to be that irrational old person that doesn't like change.

beeza650

oldernonethewiser said:

My in-laws downsized years ago from a five bedroom farm house to a two bedroom flat.

Really depends on your needs & wants.

Same as my reply above really, what were their circumstances, how's it working out for them?

Flugelhorn

we moved in our  early 60s large 5 bed to small 5 bed - costs a fraction to heat and the roof doesn't leak

njkmr

Myself and the wife are looking to downsize.
I'm retiring this year and the wife next year . I'm 55 and the wife will be 55 next year.
We love where we live and have been here 19 years but we are looking to spend more time on holiday and for longer periods, so we don't really want to come back home and have to start tidying up a big garden each time we return.
Going smaller won't necessarily be for cheaper living as the only difference would potentially be lower Council Tax but to save £100 a month or so is not a big enough reason to downsize if we're happy here. It would release some capital having a cheaper property but again, it's no good having extra money in savings if we are not happy where we end up living.
I kind of believe in if it happens it happens but ultimately it is just property and we can make a home somewhere else if we want, so yes we will downsize when the time comes.

daveyjp

All down to circumstances and personal needs.

Mum in law downsized in her 40s moving from a 4 bed with granny annexe flat to a 2 bed flat.  Marriage breakdown, children moved out,  father who lived in the flat passed away,

Parents gutted, extended and redeveloped a 2 bed bungalow about 12 years ago and moved there from a 3 bed extended semi.

A colleague moved from a four bed detached to a retirement flat and used the money to do lots of travelling.

elsien

My house is at the lower end of the scale and in a not very nice area. Downsizing would probably involve a flat maybe in a slightly nicer area but with no money left over.
Unless I get mobility issues, I see little point im making the change. 

I’ve lived in flats before, I don’t want to do it again. 

People presumed that downsizing will release equity, but that isn’t the case for everyone.

BungalowBel

We moved from a three bedroom  terraced house to a two bedroom semi-detached bungalow.

We got a smaller home, but a nicer area, a bigger garden and off-road parking.

We moved mainly because we wanted a better area, after our inner-city area, where our house of forty years was, deteriorated quite badly and became an quite unpleasant place to live.  We also wanted a drive or other off-road parking.  We didn't do it to release money, the bungalow and the house were around the same price.

The fact that we got a bungalow was a bonus.

tiernsee

Yep we have downsized from a 4 bedroom detached house to a 2 bedroom detached house. We are near 60, retired, two children who do not live with us.
We wanted to move to Dorset for our retirement and be near the sea - the house is great for two of us and we are very happy with our decision. Rooms are all larger than at our previous house so despite decreasing the number of rooms doesnt seem we have lost much space and we make far more use of the other rooms now