It’s safe to say that life expectancy of the UK population has increased.  Back in 1964, the average life expectancy was 71.62 years old whereas, as at 2016, this figure stood at 80.96 years.

This will undoubtedly be down to advances in medicine, technology and changing lifestyles but, people in York are, on average, living longer than they did however many decades ago.  As the sands of time don’t flow up the hourglass and the York population ages, therein lies the problem, where are the older generations going to live?

We face the challenge in York of being able to provide appropriate level of accommodation for an ageing population, tailoring towards a modern lifestyle as well as maintaining the City’s authenticity from millennia ago.

In 1997, in York, around one in every six people (17%) were of the age of 65 and over.  This figure hardly changed over the last twenty years (18% in 2017) but is expected to reach nearly one in every four people (23%) by 2037.

Over the next 18 years, the growth of the over 65 population will increase by 27.78% and from the above data, this is the only Age Group which will continue to rise.

Furthermore, over the next 18 years, the number of individuals over the age of 90 in York is set to nearly double (increase by a factor of 1.97).

One school of thought on the back of this is, that bungalows could eventually become a superior investment strategy whether it be flipping a tired one or to buy and hold.  It’s worth mentioning building/doing up more bungalows will also have a positive impact on both the elderly and the current generation as their existing homes will come onto the market.

I’ve banged this drum for some time now but with the York population, set to rise by 7.42% over the next 18 years, to approximately 223,603 by 2037, it is imperative the government take the housing shortage very seriously and that we don’t see yet another Housing Minister turning on a six pence.