Bank of Ireland’s New ‘Trading Down’ Loan Will Encourage Older People to Move to Smaller Homes - 27/11/2025

Bank of Ireland (BoI) will pilot a new loan product allowing people to trade down to a smaller home.The product is similar to bridging finance and is likely to appeal to people whose children have left home and who want to downsize.Previous suggestions that older people in large properties whose families have left should move to free up houses for younger families have drawn a furious backlash from groups representing the elderly.Most older people want to stay in their homes, according to surveys, and they resent suggestions they should move to somewhere smaller.Others see trading down as a viable move involving less maintenance that would free up funds after selling a larger property.Personal Finance Editor at The Irish Independent, Charlie Weston, joined us on The Agenda this morning to tell us more about this. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.