Amy Knight
Felicity Hannah
There was a time when bungalows were seriously unfashionable. Often on the market after their elderly owner dies or moves into residential care, single-storey homes have a reputation for being tired, dilapidated and ‘beige’.
But, fast forward to 2024, and just like bell-bottomed jeans, bungalows have come back around. What’s more, like many fashion trends, they’ve skipped a generation. Demand for bungalows is building and it’s young people who are queuing up to view them.
Read on to find out why bungalows are popular with first-time buyers, and why older homeowners looking to downsize are on the hunt for something else.
Downsizers don’t want a doer-upper
First-time buyers are up for a project. The cost of living is still uncomfortably high, making saving for a deposit a formidable challenge for today’s prospective homeowners. One obvious solution is to find a ‘bargain’ property needing refurbishment, roll up your sleeves and start renovating. If this is your plan, a bungalow might fit the bill.
Bungalows are often in poor condition and need a lot of work, says James Kendall, owner of James Kendall Estate Agents. “An 88-year-old downsizer isn’t going to want to put in a new kitchen and bathroom but [someone of] the younger generation will see it and think ‘I can buy this at 10% below market value and put my own stamp on it’”, he explains.
Because bungalows are often situated on large plots, they’re also ideal for extensions. “I never really understood why they built bungalows on massive plots, because usually people in bungalows have got mobility issues, and trying to mow half an acre worth of lawn just seems a bit nonsensical,” reflects Kendall.
Where a modern property might have a few feet at the back for a garden, a bungalow built in the 1970s might have a third of an acre plot – perfect for first-time buyers willing to put the work into creating their ‘forever home’.
What many younger buyers choose to do is get planning permission to either knock down a bungalow and build a house, or extend it outwards and upwards, adding bedrooms into the loft. It’s this type of renovation work, where you’re adding to the footprint of the property and increasing the number of bedrooms, that can make you money: unlike cosmetic renovations which may not offer a return on your investment.
First-time buyers are skipping a step
Because buying a house has become prohibitively expensive for many younger people, more Brits are waiting until their 30s, or older, to get onto the property ladder. In fact, the number of first-time buyers aged 50 or over has increased by 30% in the last five years, according to property market intelligence company DataLoft.
Saving up for longer and pooling resources with a partner means more buyers have the option to go straight into a house, rather than a flat.
“People often can’t buy on their own any more,” says Dave Relfe, a mortgage and protection advisor at Think Plutus. “It’s quite rare for someone to be able to buy a property on their own. It does happen, but maybe they’re more like 40,” he adds.
Buying later in life also means that many first-timers have children, or plan to start a family soon. Generous gardens and the potential to extend, or build a separate home office, make bungalows attractive for this demographic.
“I’m seeing first-time buyers going straight into a three-bed [property],” observes Relfe. “They haven’t got kids yet, but they say ‘we won’t need to move if we have children’”.
Brits have fallen out of love with flats
It used to be the case that the first step to becoming a homeowner was to purchase a flat. But, over the last couple of years that’s started to change and 3-bedroom properties are now a popular choice for first-timers.
James Kendall owns an estate agency firm covering Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire and has noticed the decline in flat sales. According to DataLoft, 70 flats were sold in the Bedfordshire village of Biddenham in 2019. In 2023, only 27 flats were sold in that village, and at the time of writing, 2024 data showed just 2 flats had been sold so far this year. The downward trend in flat sales is very marked in Kendall’s experience though the market varies across other parts of the UK.
Older buyers have also gone off flats, and the result is that competition for 2 and 3-bedroom houses, and bungalows, has intensified. Relfe says he has seen the two demographics “ending up in the same price bracket” because “neither wants a flat”.
“People are getting to their 60s and going, ‘I’m not old, I’m not going into a bungalow’, and that’s why they want to downsize to a two or three-bedroom house, says Kendall.” The trouble is, those two, or three-bedroom homes are “exactly what the 30-year-old couple need to buy as well. So you are seeing very different demographics competing for the same properties.”
Where old and young meet in the middle
With not enough three-beds on the market to meet the demand, competition for these properties is hotting up from all sides.
Savvy first-time buyers are thinking further ahead and making their first purchase a family home, stretching themselves to buy higher-value property so they can maximise the benefit of stamp duty relief.
Meanwhile, downsizers are eyeing up the same properties, keen to keep a couple of spare bedrooms to host their families at Christmas.
With supply-side shortages pushing prices up, keeping an open mind is important if you don’t want to pay over the odds. Widening your search to different types of property, or looking in a less sought-after area, could make it easier to find the next step on the property ladder – whether that’s up or down.
Image source: Getty Images
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