Older buyers being excluded from housing market, warn...

An estate agent says the housing market now has a hidden characteristic - an absence of homes that are friendly for older people.

Loveitts Estate Agents, a regional company operating in Coventry and Warwickshire, says the issue is nationwide.

In a statement it says: “With many inner-city properties being untenable for elderly or disabled people, matters have only been worsened by housing policy focusing prominently on helping first-time buyers.”

Last year, NHBC registered a total of 123,151 new homes in 2020, compared to 160,319 in 2019. Of those registered in 2020, just 1,942 were bungalows - the most popular form of home for many older buyers, especially those with mobility issues.

According to Loveitts, this means “those living with disabilities and the older population are left struggling to find suitable accommodation due to the lack of appropriate homes available.”

Meanwhile separate analysis by the Habinteg Housing Association more than two-thirds of all homes that are set to be built in England over the next 10 years will not be readily accessible for the elderly or those living with disabilities.

From its analysis of 324 local housing plans which set policies for the types of homes that are set to be built over the next decade, it found that there will just be one new accessible home erected in the next 10 years for every 77 people in the population – down from one every 67 two years ago.

“This may seem like solemn news to the 26.1m disabled or elderly people living in the UK, who are already struggling to find homes in towns and cities that provide easy access into the property” says Loveitts.