Fifty may be the new 40, but in property terms, life begins at 55. This is the
age at which you are allowed to buy into many of the smart new developments
that are springing up in the choicest areas of our pleasantest towns and
villages.
We are not talking about drab granny-stackers. These are top-end flats and
chic cottages, with snazzy kitchens and bathrooms, parking and CCTV. They
come with on-site managers, who take care of the grounds, dustbins and
deliveries while you are on foreign jaunts or, indeed, at work.
For you don’t have to be retired to live in these places. You just have to be
of a certain age. It’s a win-win-win situation. Planners, keen to entice
market-jamming baby-boomers out of their too-big houses, are inclined to
give the nod to developments aimed at wealthy oldies – hence the minimum-age
requirement. Builders are delighted: they get prime-site go-aheads, followed
by a queue of potential purchasers with ready cash, often keen to buy
off-plan.
More importantly, there are the residents, tempted by the prospect of living
where the neighbours are quiet and courteous, where their afternoon nap is
not interrupted by the sounds of children at play. Corridors and doors wide
enough for a wheelchair give a feeling of luxurious space, low-level light
switches look cool, and low windows mean you can look out when sitting down
– and you don’t have to be ancient to want to do that.
Such places don’t come cheap, of course, but if you are selling a white
elephant of a house that is a constant drain on time and resources, you can
afford to pay a small premium on a three-bedroom flat and still have cash to
spare. And there are plenty of potential purchasers out there: Saga, which
has built a successful business catering to the demands of this demographic,
estimates that there are 19m over50s in Britain, controlling 80% of the
country’s wealth.
Among them are people like me; I may still have a year or two to go, but I’ve
been dribbling food down cardies all my adult life, and such 55-plus
establishments are already beckoning. My husband and I are typical of the
younger baby-boomers who lucked out in the property market and, since the
1980s, have made money more by good fortune than by judgment. After we sold
our family home in southwest London, five years ago, we moved to the West
Country and, like so many others, chose to keep a bolt hole in the capital.
In the country, we love living in our cottage with low ceilings. In London,
however, we had difficulty adjusting to the size of what we could get for
our money: new-build flats and conversions tend to have small rooms. Again,
luck was with us, and we had two years of a stagnant market to search before
finding a flat in a Georgian property a short walk from our old house.
Bingo! It has a huge reception room – much better than the one we’d left –
but three bedrooms, rather than six. Perfect. It’s still like living in a
big house, but with fewer rooms. And that, of course, is what resizing is
all about.
We fiftysomethings may want somewhere smaller, but we still need rooms of a
decent size for all our old furniture. We don’t want a dining room or a big
kitchen if we live in a town or city: we go to restaurants to eat with work
colleagues and friends. Children, should they deign to visit, graze standing
up or slumped in front of a screen. Close friends eat take-outs.
English Courtyard has been catering for this growing market for nearly 30
years, with an emphasis on location and big room sizes. These days, their
properties often come with a study in which silver surfers can keep the
computer.
So, what’s on offer? I head first for Goodworth Clatford, near Andover, in
northwest Hampshire, where English Courtyard has a quiet collection of 15
cottages and four flats at a development with the rather unfortunate name of
St Peter’s Close. There aren’t any pearly gates, but there might as well be
for all the action I see, so it’s on to busier Winchester.
Here, the Wyke Mark apartment complex is much more my thing, with a bit of
coming and going. I spot several window cleaners, a gardener and a woman
with a massage table under her arm, all in 30 minutes.
The English Courtyard literature doesn’t mention “retirement” or “old age”,
talking instead of “inspired, 55-plus living”, but, in reality, few people
buy with them before they reach their seventies. It is worth noting that the
age rule applies only to the older half of a couple. Toy boys and young
floozies are welcome, though I don’t see evidence of either on my visit.
John Calvert, 80, and his wife, Joan, 71, are typical residents. They lived
down the road for 44 years in a three-bedroom detached house with a large
garden. Four years ago, they had already started to look for somewhere more
manageable when John, who used to lead a government team giving advice on
livestock, suffered several strokes in one night.
That was all the prompting they needed. They paid £420,000 for their
three-bedroom flat, slightly less than they got for their house. They love
it. Their furniture fits neatly into a large reception room, similar in size
and shape to their last one, and they enjoy being able to take frequent
travel trips, knowing their home is safe. When their daughter comes to stay
with her family, they book the guest flat, paying a nominal charge to cover
the cost of linen and breakfast.
It has worked out well for the Calverts, but it’s not for me, largely because
I don’t want to live in Winchester. Transport the place to London and it
would be a different matter. But the capital is already full of such places.
We call them portered mansion blocks, and one day I hope to live in one.
English Courtyard; 0800 220858, www.englishcourtyard.co.uk.
A two-bedroom, 1,140 sq ft apartment is for sale at Wyke Mark, in
Winchester, for £495,000, with its resales department; 0800 919044
In with the old: what’s on offer
On the Cliveden estate, near Taplow, Buckinghamshire, the National Trust and
Countryside Properties are jointly building 64 flats and 71 houses
exclusively for the over55s. Flats start at £410,000, houses at £499,000. 01628
668835, www.clivedenvillage.co.uk
A two-bedroom cottage, one of 24 at Walpole Court, in Puddletown, five miles
from Dorchester, Dorset, is for sale for £310,000. In a converted stables
with a walled garden, each age-exclusive property has a garage. 0800
919044, www.englishcourtyard.co.uk
