Is It Better to Leave the Family Home Before Moving Gets Harder?

For people in their seventies still living in the house where they raised their children, moving somewhere easier can feel like a decision that can wait. The house is familiar, and leaving would mean a lot of work. But if moving is something they might eventually want, could waiting make the work harder for them and their adult children?

John and Kathryn Turner made their move at retirement, when John was about 64. Bryan Worn moved at about 77. Their experiences in this ABC News report about older Australians moving home offer two quite different starting points. ABC News is Australia's public broadcaster.

Both chose downsizing, meaning moving to a smaller or easier home, usually later in life. Both ended up in two-bedroom apartments in Brisbane.

What the Turners gained and lost

The Turners left a family home on an 850 square metre block, where they'd lived for four decades and raised their children. They chose an inner-city apartment near public transport, markets, the cinema and a hospital.

John is now 72 and has had two knee operations. He loves having no lawn to mow. There's less maintenance, and they feel more comfortable about security when they travel.

But their shared building charges, called strata fees, rose much more than they'd expected. Much taller buildings appeared around them too. And they still make a long drive south of Brisbane to their old doctor and Kathryn's hairdresser.

What shocked them, they told ABC News, was the rise in fees and the building around them.

A later move can work

Bryan Worn, now 78, had a different reason for moving:

“I'd been living on my own in a large house for five years … and my kids were getting a little bit antsy about me being on my own in a house.”

What people expect after 75

Age UK, a British charity for older people, offers some useful context in its report, Late movers. Seventy-two percent of respondents over 65 thought moving after 75 would be difficult. Of those, 30 percent thought it would be very difficult and something they couldn't manage even with help. Fifty-nine percent of people aged 75 and over said they never expected to move again.

Those are people's expectations, rather than proof that a move at 77 will go badly. Bryan's experience leaves room for a later move that works.

Time to settle somewhere new

There is another reason to think about moving earlier. Getting used to a new home and neighbourhood may be easier when you are younger, with more energy to learn new routines and find your way around. The social side takes time too. Research into older adults who relocated found that moving can disrupt existing social networks and that people have to build new connections in the new community. Meeting neighbours, joining a local group or simply finding the places where people begin to recognise you does not happen on moving day. Moving earlier can give you more time to make friends and build a local network before you may really need it.

The move has to be possible

There also has to be somewhere worth moving to. Money can keep the decision on hold as well. Barclays, a British bank, reports findings from its survey of 2,000 UK adults: 71 percent of homeowners cited upfront costs and financial risks as barriers. Property purchase costs have to be considered alongside the ongoing bills. Among Baby Boomers who had downsized, the most common reason, at 43 percent, was finding a home suitable for getting older.

Age UK also argues that a smaller home shouldn't mean losing the spare room. A spare bedroom can accommodate a carer, an unwell partner sleeping separately, or family staying over.