England’s 7.5 million over-65 households are overwhelmingly settled where they are – 58% are now under-occupying their home, up from 53% a decade ago, equivalent to 4.3 million homes with spare bedrooms going unused.
The reasons are mostly contentment rather than constraint. The English Housing Survey found 76% say their current home already meets their needs, and 73% simply like the area they live in: the top two reasons by some distance.
Age plays a smaller but telling role too: 17% stay because their home has been specifically adapted to their needs, a reason of necessity rather than preference.
Even among those who do want to move, the instinct is to downsize rather than up-size: 28% want a smaller home, compared with just 24% of 35-64 year-olds who are chasing more space. Source: Dataloft by PriceHubble, English Housing Survey 2024-25, published May 2026