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A house with lots of bedrooms, bathrooms and a big garden is perfect for raising a family. But what happens when the children finally leave and retirement beckons?
For many, having a sizeable property in later life is more trouble than it’s worth. With the cost of running a household becoming increasingly onerous, downsizing to a smaller bolthole can be a great way of cutting costs and having more cash to spend in old age.
The question is: where do you move to? Access to natural beauty and healthcare is top of many retirees’ list, as is being able to easily visit supermarkets and town centres.
Telegraph Money commissioned estate agent Savills to produce a leaderboard of England’s 25 best downsizing locations, ranking various factors such as the prevalence and distance to doctors, dentists and areas of outstanding natural beauty as well as, of course, house prices.
London is overly represented, because of the number of amenities it offers in a relatively concentrated area.
But we also want to hear from you. Let us know in the comments below, or email money@telegraph.co.uk, with details of where you downsized to – and whether you love or loathe where you ended up.
London
Londoners considering downsizing could be forgiven for thinking that giving up a large city property means escaping to a cottage in the countryside.
But with 32 boroughs and dozens of town centres dotted across its suburban expanse, downsizers can enjoy London from leafier fringes while keeping the benefits of living in the capital.
Downsizing and moving to a property in the same city or town can also offer homeowners a way to release a part of a property’s value. Jackson-Stops, an estate agent, calculated that swapping a detached for a semi-detached house in the same area typically netted movers £205,157.
Sutton, Richmond upon Thames, Bromley, Wandsworth, Barnet and Hillingdon all rank highly for their proximity to hospitals, dentists, GPs and shops.
Many of the areas are also within at most an hour’s drive or public transport to an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB), such as the Surrey Hills, the Chilterns, the North Wessex Downs, High Weald and the Kent Downs.
Merton, in south west London, takes the number one spot for downsizing locations in the UK, according to Savills. With house prices of £776,790 on average, the borough includes Wimbledon, Mitcham Common and Tooting.
Cheltenham
One of Britain’s iconic market towns, Cheltenham in Gloucestershire, scores most highly for vicinity to AONBs, including the Cotswolds as well as the lesser-known but equally beautiful Malvern Hills and the Wye Valley.
Average house prices are £408,595 and properties coming onto the market are an average of 18 minutes travel time by public transport and foot to the town centre.
The town benefits from a direct rail connection to Bristol and is only a half an hour drive from nearby Gloucester.
The town plays host to a wide variety of festivals and events, including the Cheltenham Festival, a key date in the horseracing calendar, the Cheltenham Literature Festival, the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and the Cheltenham Science Festival.
Worcester
Home of famous Royal Worcester porcelain, the cathedral city is steeped in history and was the site of the final battle of the English Civil War.
Prices in Worcester, in the West Midlands, are £272,904 on average, beating London and much of the UK’s South West for affordability. The city also benefits from 6.1 GPs, dentists and hospitals per 10,000 people, which is above the average.
Worcester is just over an hour’s train journey from Birmingham, or roughly the same amount of time in the car.
Exeter
House prices in Exeter, Devon, are £347,109 on average and properties on the market are 15 minutes on average outside of the city centre by public transport and foot.
The city benefits from a direct rail link into London, with the journey taking roughly two hours from Exeter St Davids to London Paddington.
A popular tourist destination, the city is known for its Roman routes and impressive 15th-century cathedral. Dartmoor and the exclusive South Hams are on the doorstep.
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle in North East England offers downsizers property for £228,067 on average, lower than the average UK house price, which was £285,000 in March 2023, according to official figures.
The city is an hour and a half away from Edinburgh and roughly the same distance from Leeds by train. Newcastle International Airport, a mere half an hour by train from the city centre, has direct connections to Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Rome, Athens, Dubai, Orlando and Cancun.
The city is nestled between the North Pennines and the North Sea, with nearby seaside towns including Whitley Bay and Blyth.
Cambridge
The world famous university city attracts visitors from all over the world for its beauty and collegiate architecture, which has influenced the look of universities around the world.
It also offers downsizers homes for £586,980 on average, around £140,000 cheaper than London’s average, according to property site Rightmove.
London’s Thameslink service takes just over an hour to reach St Pancras International from Cambridge.
Leeds
Ranking number one for its proximity to AONBs, Leeds is situated between the Forest of Bowland, Nidderdale, the Peak District and just south of the Yorkshire Dales.
It also has house prices of £269,010 on average. Suburbs like Chapel Allerton, Roundhay and Headingley are just several minutes by car into the centre of Leeds.
The city enjoys good rail links to nearby York and Manchester, with London just over two hours away by train.
Wirral
The Wirral Peninsula faces Liverpool across the Mersey river. Properties cost £242,484 on average.
A heartland of the Industrial Revolution, some parts of Birkenhead are laid out with stunning Victorian architecture, including Birkenhead Park and Hamilton Square.
Wirral is close to Wales, as well as Chester and Wrexham. The area is only an hour’s drive from Clwydian Range And Dee Valley, and an hour-and-a-half by car to Snowdonia.
Darlington
In the heart of County Durham, Darlington is the cheapest downsizing location in the top 25, with property costing on average just £180,822, over £100,000 cheaper than the UK average.
The town is only 10 miles from the scenic Yorkshire Dales National Park, with a classic Victorian market square and railway station with regular services to London Kings Cross, Newcastle, Edinburgh Waverley, Leeds City, Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport.
Properties on offer are on average just 20 minutes by foot or public transport from the town’s centre.
Greater Manchester
Bury and Stockport in Greater Manchester offer downsizers suburban idylls moments from the city centre by car or public transport.
Houses in Bury are on average £251,153, while those in Stockport are £335,347.
Bury’s attractions include the East Lancashire heritage railway, running to Heywood, Ramsbottom, Rawtenstall, as well as Bury Art Museum and Bury Castle. The town is also known for its Victorian covered market and castle.
Central London
For those with larger budgets who want to keep the excitement of living in the capital, inner-city boroughs such as Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, the City of London and Camden rank highly for amenities like hospitals, GP practices and dentists, with excellent national and international transport links.
But there is an obvious downside. Average house prices are £1.7m in Westminster, £2.4m in Kensington and Chelsea, £930,000 in the City of London and a tad higher in Camden.
The City is particularly well served, with 13.7 hospitals, GPs and dentists per 10,000 people.
Frances McDonald, director of research at Savills, said “Older households have benefitted from the bulk of growth in housing wealth over the past decade, and now over-55s account for 75pc of all housing equity in the UK, according to our research.
“Even as house price growth softens, those who own their home outright – or with a smaller mortgage – are in a strong position to take advantage of significant increases to the value of detached family homes since the start of the pandemic.
She added: “With the potential to release equity from their home, more downsizers are helping family members get a foot on, or trade up the housing ladder, or to supplement a retirement fund and reduce overheads.”