Downsizing Across The UK

As you near retirement and start thinking about your long-term financial security, you might consider downsizing to a home more suited to your needs.

As older children fly the nest, you could find yourself with a home that’s much larger than you need. Moving somewhere a little smaller could end up freeing up hundreds of thousands of pounds to put toward your retirement fund.

Here’s how much you could save by downsizing in different parts of the UK.

Top three UK cities with the biggest potential savings

London

Average saving: £417,881

House prices in the capital are the highest in the UK. So it’s little surprise that downsizing will free up the most equity here.

The average saving is over £400,000, but even those who are simply moving from a two-bedroom to one-bedroom property can save almost £250,000 by doing so.

Brighton and Hove

Average saving: £156,636

Outside of the capital, the city where you can enjoy the biggest saving by downsizing is Brighton & Hove, on the South Coast.

Here, downsizing will save you at least £120,000, no matter how big the houses that you’re moving to and from are, while the biggest savings on offer are for those moving from a five-bedroom property to a four-bedroom one, where the average five-bed property costs over £860,000 - a figure which drops by £230,000 to £632,964 for a four-bedroom property in the city.

Bristol

Average saving: £148,609

Those in Bristol enjoy an average saving of £148,609 when downsizing their homes and while the savings at the lower end might not be quite as great (for example £65,370 when moving from a three-bedroom to two-bedroom property), that’s still a very nice sum to be able to put towards your retirement!

UK cities with the biggest potential savings

Rank	Rank	Town/city	5 beds	4 beds	3 beds	2 beds	1 bed	5 to 4 bed saving	4 to 3 bed saving	3 to 2 bed saving	2 to 1 bed saving	Average saving	5 to 4 bed saving	4 to 3 bed saving	3 to 2 bed saving	2 to 1 bed saving	Average saving

UK regions with the biggest potential savings

When compared by region, London continues to offer the biggest savings.

Outside the capital, the biggest savings can be made in England. The lowest savings can be made in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, where homes tend to be more affordable.

Key

Biggest to least savings

North West

Average saving in pounds:

£116,107

Average saving as percentage:

32.66%

Compare your region to the UK average by clicking on the map. Ranked by the average downsizing saving by region.

Rank	Rank	Region	5 beds	4 beds	3 beds	2 beds	1 bed	5 to 4 bed saving	4 to 3 bed saving	3 to 2 bed saving	2 to 1 bed saving	Average saving	5 to 4 bed saving	4 to 3 bed saving	3 to 2 bed saving	2 to 1 bed saving	Average saving

Sources & Methodology

All average house price data was sourced from Zoopla and was correct as of June 15th 2020.

For each of the UK’s most populated towns and cities, we took the average asking price of a one, two, three, four and five-bedroom property and calculated the price difference between each (difference between five and four-bed, four and three-bed and so on) and also took an average of these four saving figures.

Brought to you by

Be pension confident. Combine and calculate pensions online.