Downsizing from a detached to semi-detached home in the UK releases an average equity windfall of £205,157, research by Jackson-Stops has found.

The estate agency’s analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data revealed the average figure had risen by £8,681 since January this year, and £44,226 since 2020.

The research also looked at ONS data to discover the locations providing the biggest price difference proportional to an onward move when going from a detached home (with a national average of four bedrooms) to a semi-detached home (with a national average of three bedrooms) in the same area (excluding Scotland and individual London borough authorities).

Ranking in first place was Elmbridge in Surrey, with an equity windfall of £805,428. In fact, Surrey ranked twice in the top three spots, with Woking in third place with an average equity release of £494,950. Between the Surrey entrants in second place was Three Rivers in Hertfordshire, registering a windfall of £581,261.

“Surrey has hit top of the charts for good reason,” said Tim Firth, director of Jackson-Stops Weybridge. “The long-term growth of the large family home market here has far superseded that of the apartment and smaller homes market, which means the gap in value can feel enormous and be a hugely lucrative move for any keen downsizers looking to cash in whilst house prices remain buoyant, getting a more manageable sized home in the process.”

Jackson-Stops’ own UK branch data showed that the number of downsizer enquiries are now higher than pre-pandemic, having increased by 21% since 2019 – a trend agents think will continue as many homeowners choose to sell now in order to maximise the sale price of their home and release more cash as they downsize.

“I am going out and speaking to more downsizers now than I have done all year,” Firth said. “I ask them, ‘Why now, why not when the market peaked just after the pandemic?’ and many will say that they had been considering it for many years, but the prospect of heating and maintaining a vast four or five bed home during an energy crisis had been the push they needed to finally downsize.”