British retiree housing, England single-storey homes

British retiree housing, England single-storey homes, UK houses with maintained gardens, English property

What British Retirees Really Want From Housing

28 April 2026

Ask most retirees what they’re after in a home and you’ll get a pretty consistent answer. It won’t be granite worktops or a home cinema room. It’ll be something far more practical: a place that’s easy to look after, affordable to heat and close to a bit of green space.

The trouble is, much of the UK’s existing housing stock was never built with these priorities in mind. Find out below where the gap lies and how the market elsewhere has started to respond.

Low Maintenance and Manageable Bills Come First

Survey after survey puts low maintenance at the top of retirees’ wish lists. A home that doesn’t need constant attention, from the garden to the gutters, ranks above almost everything else. Single-storey living is a big part of this, yet park bungalow stock across the UK has been shrinking for decades as developers favour multi-storey builds that squeeze more units onto each plot.

Energy costs have shot up the priority list since 2022. The CBRE UK Senior Living Survey 2025 found that financial security and predictable expenses were top concerns for people under 75 considering a move. Older housing stock is notoriously energy-inefficient, with many homes still sitting in EPC band D or lower. For retirees on fixed incomes, a smaller, better-insulated home with lower council tax will beat a larger property every time.

Park bungalow communities like those offered by Regency Living have filled part of this gap in England, providing single-storey homes in managed settings where grounds and communal areas are looked after. It’s an approach that takes the burden of maintenance off the homeowner entirely.

Community, Green Space and Somewhere to Walk

Loneliness among older people is a well-documented problem. Before the pandemic, around 100,000 older people in Scotland were estimated to feel lonely all or most of the time. More recent surveys suggest the figure has risen significantly since then. Purpose-built retirement communities tend to score well here because they bring like-minded people together in a shared setting with communal spaces and on-site management.

Access to green space matters too. Parks, gardens and woodland paths are linked to better physical and mental health in later life, and retirees who move to purpose-built communities often cite the surrounding environment as a deciding factor. Government data shows that over 40 million people in England don’t have access to a green space within a short walk from home.

Scotland’s Retirement Housing Shortage

Scotland faces a particularly stark supply problem. The ARCO Task Force has highlighted a gap of 50,000 housing-with-care units, with just 3,782 currently available for an over-65 population set to rise by 28% by 2036. Scottish older people have less than a tenth of the specialist housing provision available in countries like New Zealand and Australia.

Edinburgh, despite its appeal as a capital city with excellent healthcare and green spaces, has very little purpose-built retirement housing compared to English cities. A few developments have appeared in recent years, but supply is nowhere near demand. Part of the problem is that Scottish planning policy has focused heavily on affordable homes for younger buyers, with far less attention given to specialist housing for older people. Developers north of the border also tend to prioritise mainstream family housing, where profit margins are more predictable.

Edinburgh could learn from English developers who’ve built successful retirement communities in places like Cornwall, Norfolk and Dorset. In those areas, the model is well established, demand is strong and retirees are actively choosing managed communities over conventional housing.

In a Nutshell

The 2025 UK Homebuyer Wishlist report found that 70% of people aged 55 and over agreed there’s a shortage of the type of property they’d ideally like to own. The UK builds around 7,000 later-living homes each year, but estimates suggest 30,000 to 50,000 are needed to meet growing demand.

When older people can’t find somewhere suitable to move, family homes don’t get freed up for the next generation. It’s a chain that affects buyers of all ages. British retirees aren’t asking for much, but until developers, planners and policymakers treat retirement housing as a priority instead of an afterthought, millions of older people will be left in homes that no longer suit them.

Comments on this guide to British retiree housing article are welcome.