Can you guess which segment of the housing market is most often associated with declining value over time? That would be the housing aimed at the more mature occupant i.e. living for those over 55 etc. It’s an area that plays on people’s desire to care for others.

I’ll use an example of a development in Wantage and data from Zoopla. A 1-bed flat was first sold in August 2011 for £120,000, it was re-sold in July 2023 for £100,000. Adjusting for inflation it should have sold for £169,822!

So why does the value fall so dramatically?

Often the management company associated with the development is not controlled by the residents. Its charges grow disproportionally to when the property is first purchased.

The services brought in to carry out any work is usually associated with the same group that the management company belongs to. It's not unusual for the management company to say “We have to charge more because the services needed are costing so much more”. But there not using the market for services, they are using internal resources and not being transparent with owners.

Most frequently there are terms and conditions buried in the original purchase agreement that means anything from 1-10% of the value of the property must be paid every time the person living their changes. You read correctly, every time and on the full value of the property. There is a market for renting out retirement properties, but most often that’s because the owner inherited the flat, not because a property investor sees a viable return.

Now let’s look at when the person at 55 buys the property but reaches say 70 or 80 and needs more of an assistive living place. Just when you might want to release equity to pay for it, you find the bricks and mortar that’s normally a solid investment is in fact a liability. You either don’t get anything like the rental income you might get with an ordinary flat, or you're forced to sell at a loss and of course, the money released does not go as far as you might have planned.

It’s been reported as an issue for several years, a minister even looked at this, but nothing has been done to stop companies from praying on the vulnerable. Its something I would want to raise should I be lucky enough to represent people in Parliament.