Downsizers play an important role in the property market.

They free up hundreds of thousands of empty bedrooms each year and account for a third of all property sales.*

But they’re often stereotyped as empty nesters looking to offload a large property to reduce maintenance duties.

While this description holds true in some cases, the category is much more varied than that.

A recent report** divided downsizers into four groups and analysed their activity over recent years. 

Here’s what it found.

This group want a much smaller home (at least two fewer bedrooms) and a property with a lower price tag. 

In the face of cost-of-living pressures, the proportion of downsizers in this group has jumped from 16% in 2017 to 25% in 2024.

An increasing number of downsizers are moving primarily for financial reasons. While their new home may be a tad smaller (a maximum of one less bedroom), their main goal is to trade down in value. 

Perhaps because of rising mortgage costs over the past two years, about 40% of downsizers now fall into this group (it was 27% in 2017).  

Movers who fit that conventional picture of a downsizer – someone rattling around in a large family property and wanting less space – still exist. But they are becoming less common. 

This group has decreased from 24% to 18% in the past seven years.

The final group are those moving to a property that’s not significantly smaller in size or value. 

Their new home may be more modest in some respects, but they’re not seeking a substantial reduction in space or a cash injection.

This group is likelier to want a new adventure in a different location and has shrunk from 34% to 16% in seven years.

Even established homeowners are not immune to feeling the pinch of the current economic climate, with finances driving an increasing number of downsizing decisions.

Then there is the continued popularity of the Bank of Mum and Dad. Due to reduced housing affordability, downsizers may want to release equity in their property to help their children get on the property ladder.