More than half of Brits living in homes too big for them. We need incentives for over-65s to downsize, not punitive property taxes, writes Nick Sanderson

Yesterday, Nationwide released data revealing the number of homes with two or more spare bedrooms has climbed to 53 per cent, up from 44 per cent in 2005.

When thinking about these numbers, it would be remiss of us all to ignore the seismic shift in how we use our homes, especially in the last five years. Remote work has turned spare bedrooms into home offices, but even with this considered, a substantial portion of the UK’s housing stock is still under-occupied.

More property taxes will give little incentive for older homeowners to downsize

The International Longevity Centre delved into this issue in 2023, looking particularly at older homeowners. Nearly nine in ten people aged 65-79 livema in under-occupied........

© City A.M.