Downsizing from the family home is something many people consider once the children have left home, and the space is no longer needed. Moving into a smaller property with less maintenance and a smaller garden can be appealing to many people. It might be easy to lock up and leave while you spend more time travelling.

The cons might be that you could miss your neighbourhood or end up not being ready for a retirement village or discover that a much smaller property comes with less privacy. You might also find it harder to keep pets.

However, the advantages of such a move offer attractive financial incentives. As well as enjoying lower insurance and utility bills, there is also the federal government’s downsizer incentive. If you are over 55 and you have lived in your home for more than 10 years, you may be able to contribute $300,000 of the sale of your property to your superannuation fund without it affecting your concessional or non-concessional contribution caps. That potentially means $600,000 for couples.

This downsizer initiative can only be used once. Many people are considering these ideas because it helps to free up equity from assets that can then assist in funding retirement, especially with an increasing cost of living.

Choosing to downsize needs to be carefully considered, however, and it is worth going through the numbers with a financial adviser. You need to consider how much you might pay for another home and what the buying and selling expenses might be. You also need to check the tax implications of any move as it can be complicated.