People aged 18 to 24 are more likely to downsize their home than upsize when moving than are people aged over 55, research from Hargreaves Lansdown shows.

The firm polled 2,000 people and found that of all age cohorts, the 18 to 24 and 25 to 34 brackets were the most likely to downsize, at 11% and 12% respectively, with just 3% of those aged 55 to 64 planning to downsize.

Of those who wanted to upsize, people aged 25 to 34 were the most likely, at 15%, followed by people aged 35 to 44, of which 13% said they wanted to upsize.

Meanwhile, 3% of those aged 55 to 64 said they wanted to upsize when they next moved.

The survey also looked at upsizing and downsizing likelihood by tax band. It found that 27% of higher rate taxpayers wanted to upsize compared to 5% of lower rate taxpayers. And 5% of higher rate taxpayers planned to downsize, as did 4% of basic rate taxpayers.

Hargreaves Lansdown has dubbed the phenomenon of one in 10 people aged 18 to 35 planning to downsize as ‘the crawl to small.’

Senior personal finance analyst Sarah Coles comments: “The race for space is being won by the better paid, while younger people are starting the ‘crawl to small.’

“At the moment, with lockdown savings still kicking around, and some wiggle room in the budgets of higher rate taxpayers, some people can still afford to keep climbing the property ladder. However, as the cost-of-living bites, there will be plenty more who end up dropping back a rung or two instead.”

The survey was issued in April. The report states: “As time goes on, more landlords hike rents, and prices keep rising, this will have a more far-reaching impact. We expect more people to consider downsizing across the board or moving somewhere more affordable as we go through the year.”