"The modern park home offering has evolved substantially in recent years and this has changed the perception that many may have previously had on the standard of living and comfort a park home can offer"
Quickmove Properties looked at almost 5,000 current market listings located up and down the nation revealing which areas are most in demand and found that the popularity of modern park homes has increased substantially in recent years as downsizers have shunned increasingly expensive retirement homes and the far higher cost of purchasing in the regular property market to maximise the financial equity built up in their existing property, as well as their pension pot.
Modern park homes not only offer the features and amenities of a regular home, but they provide a ready-made community, not to mention the fact that brand-new models come fully furnished, fitted and ready to live in.
This no-fuss, no-compromise approach to property ownership in later life is in high demand and the research by Quickmove Properties shows that a fifth of all current market stock across England has already been snapped up by silver home sellers and buyers looking to downsize.
In some areas of the market, competition is substantial. In Bedfordshire, as many as 44% of all park homes currently listed for sale on the market have been sold subject to contract or had an offer placed on them.
Staffordshire is also proving to be one of the nation’s current park home property purchasing hotspots, with 39% of all park home for sale stock already taken.
Traditional retirement counties of Hampshire (35%), Dorset (35%) and Somerset (28%) also rank within the top five most in-demand areas for park homes, with Surrey (27%), Hertfordshire (27%), the West Midlands (26%), Wiltshire (26%) and Bristol (25%) making the top 10.
Mark O’Dwyer, Sales Director at Quickmove Properties, commented:
“With property values increasing significantly in recent times, many downsizers are finding that there simply isn’t an adequate choice of suitable homes, available at realistic price thresholds, in the traditional market.
"At the same time, the modern park home offering has evolved substantially in recent years and this has changed the perception that many may have previously had on the standard of living and comfort a park home can offer.
"As a result, there’s high demand for park homes in certain areas of the market, as silver downsizers are opting to maximise the equity accumulated in their bricks and mortar home when selling, without compromising on location and quality of living.”
