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When 65-year-old Maria Buzzo sold her big family house to downsize into an off-the-plan apartment, she knew she’d have about 12 months to wait before the new home was ready.
She could rent somewhere for the interim, she thought. But instead she decided to put everything into storage and buy a plane ticket to take a “golden gap year”. “Why not?” she asks, bags packed for her May 13 solo departure to Spain, Portugal, France and Italy.
“I thought that this is a great opportunity to go away and travel,” Buzzo says. “I couldn’t do that before, when I had a big house and pool and lawns to look after. But now this move has given me the freedom to do exactly as I like before coming back to settle into my new place.”
Buzzo sold her old home in the north-western Sydney suburb of Castle Hill and bought into a house-and-apartment development called Highforest, by Mirvac, in West Pennant Hills. She is part of a trend of downsizers taking the holiday of a lifetime between their old lives and new.
“We’re now seeing this happening a lot in both Sydney and Melbourne,” says Warwick Bible, Mirvac’s general manager of residential development in NSW. “It’s such a great thing. There’s a gap between exchange and settlement, and these buyers are seeing a wonderful chance to get away in the interim.
“Travel is so much part of the attraction of apartments for downsizers, so they can lock up and leave, but now they’re getting into it early and going on a wonderful holiday rather than waiting around for their apartment to be finished. It’s marvellous to see downsizers setting off on these adventures, both international and domestic.”
At another downsizer-focused development – Wahroonga Estate on Sydney’s upper north shore – a number of property buyers are indulging their wanderlust after selling their old homes, and taking off for excellent adventures.
One couple put everything into storage, bought a camper trailer and set off on a 12-month tour around Australia. “The construction period of new apartments tends to be two years and, rather than rent somewhere or move in with family, they decided to take advantage of that downtime,” says developer Capital Corporation’s managing director, Jim Hunter.
“Then a lot of the downsizers plan to carry on travelling once they’ve moved into their new homes,′ Hunter says. “That’s the beauty of apartment living; they won’t have a lot of maintenance or looking after houses and lawns and pools to worry about. But this travelling for a golden gap year is a great idea, and it’s really picking up momentum.”
Research from insurance company Australian Seniors, on how Australians aged 50 and over are spending their money, found that older empty-nesters are keen to travel and are taking every opportunity to do so.
Nearly two in five, or 39 per cent, had their last big holiday in the past year – a jump from 18 per cent in 2022 – while 64 per cent feel comfortable about using their retirement savings for travel. At the same time, 43 per cent of the 1200 people surveyed believe creating travel memories is more important than leaving a financial inheritance.
“That’s absolutely true,” says Murray Wood, director of Belle Property International, which is selling a number of projects to downsizers, including the Sydney CBD building 111 Castlereagh, Cbus Property’s 98-unit tower on top of the old David Jones men’s store.
“I know of a couple just off-hand,” Wood says. “One man and woman sold their business and their family home, ready to downsize into another of our projects – The Collective in Crows Nest – and, while they’re waiting for completion, have gone off touring the world. They’ll be back just before they’re due to move in, in October or November this year.”
Wood says that the hardest part of downsizing for anyone is navigating the sale of their house and the purchase of a new apartment, and trying to match dates. Instead, agents at regular downsizer seminars recommend selling their house and then waiting – as that’s far simpler and more stress-free.
“But, even better, we’re seeing so many of them now taking that golden gap year and travelling,” Wood says. “It’s really taking off, in both senses.”
Certainly, Buzzo can’t wait. “I was going to rent for a while, and then my eldest daughter said I could stay with her,” she says. “But going off overseas on the trip I’ve been dreaming about all my life is the much more perfect solution.”
