Making a housing market for an ageing population

A significant increase in the number of homes purpose-built for older people is needed to support the country’s ageing population to live healthily and happily for longer.

In Building for the Baby Boomers, Policy Exchange argue a new generation of homes purpose built for ageing baby boomers is needed. It says increasing older people’s choice in the housing market should be a more central feature of Government’s housing strategy. This would allow more baby boomers to move into homes fit for their retirement, releasing family homes onto local housing markets; and give more baby boomers the chance to access housing wealth they have stored up in spare bedrooms.

This timely report underlines the importance of far more homes being built that will attract baby boomers like me to downsize – to “right size”. But it also highlights the barriers to this happening and suggests ways forward.

I congratulate Policy Exchange on this important contribution: I hope it will help the UK toward the tipping point when all of us baby boomers see downsizing as a positive, natural progression in life.