Most people clamber steadily up the property ladder during their lives, but a significant minority go in the other direction. A new survey from property website assertahome.com found that although two thirds of househunters on the site are buying homes more expensive than the ones they are selling, one third are releasing cash from their property by moving to a cheaper home. On average, these househunters are releasing £112,000 of equity as they move down the ladder.

Among those trading down, assertahome.com identified four key groups of people.

Downshifters – 54% of respondents

• Aged 46.5 on average, the downshifters have reached the point in life where priorities are changing.
• Enjoy a healthy household income of £46,800, well above the national average.
• Making a lifestyle choice to move to a cheaper home in order to release cash from their properties to supplement a less pressured lifestyle or repay the mortgage.
• Typical commentary from respondents included the following:
  o ‘After 25 years of full time work, I want to go part time and enjoy life more.’
  o ‘I can clear my mortgage and have some left over by trading down.’

• Aged 60 on average, retirees reported an average household income of £23,500.
• Respondents commented:
  o ‘My income is much lower now I have retired and I want to use some of the equity in my home to help fund my retirement.’
  o ‘I am selling my home and retiring to the countryside.’

• Partners who are separating are 34.5 on average and between them earn a comfortable £47,500.
• One respondent commented:
  o ‘Neither my partner nor I can afford to buy our home so we are selling up to buy a place each.’

• For this group, their children have grown up and left home leaving the parents in a home too large for their needs.
• Empty-nesters are the wealthiest group. Aged 47 on average, they have an average household income of £58,300.
• Typical comments included:
  o ‘My husband and I are rattling around in this big house now our children have left university and moved away.’
  o ‘We don’t need the space and want to help our daughter to buy her first flat.’

Jim Buckle, Managing Director of assertahome.com commented: “There is so much focus on people moving up the property ladder that those trading down are often overlooked. The downshifters looking for a better quality of life are the largest group and we were surprised how many of them there are. Britons are clearly far more likely to make radical lifestyle changes than ever before.

And with property prices having risen so strongly in recent years, it is not surprising that many people want to cash in on the substantial equity they have built up in their homes to help fund a new lifestyle - £112,000 on average according to our survey.”