The children have left home, you are retiring, and the garden and the stairs feel bigger than before. Downsizing does not have to happen right away, and certainly not in a rush. Here you read what you can choose, what it yields and costs, and how you prepare calmly.
If you buy a smaller home as your sole owner-occupied home, you pay % registration duty in Flanders if you sell your current home within 2 years after the purchase deed (Vlaamse Belastingdienst, checked on 28 October 2026). The Flemish Government wants to raise that rate to % from 1 January 2027: announced, not yet decided. On the sale of your own home you pay no capital gains tax if you have owned it for more than 5 years or if it was your own home for at least 12 months immediately before the sale (FOD Financiën).
What is your home worth?
First see what your home is worth. Then start preparing early and without obligation: free, for as long as you like.
There is no age at which you have to move. Whoever thinks about it in time does choose the pace themselves, instead of deciding under pressure later. These signals often come back:
Rooms that stand empty, but are still heated, cleaned and maintained.
Stairs, a big garden or a roof that demands ever more work.
The distance to the shop, the doctor, public transport and the family.
Money that is tied up in your home and that you would rather use differently, for yourself or your children.
The wish to live closer to friends, grandchildren or a village centre.
Part 2
Staying and adapting your home: what is possible?
Downsizing is also possible in your own house: a bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor, a walk-in shower, a smaller garden. Interior renovations in Flanders have been exempt from an environmental permit (omgevingsvergunning) since 1 March 2026 as long as the number of dwellings stays the same. If they affect the stability, from 5 September 2026 the exemption only applies with an architect (Departement Omgeving, the Flemish environment department).
On renovation works to your home a reduced VAT rate of % can apply under conditions (FOD Financiën, the federal tax authority). For energy-saving works there are Flemish grants and loans, such as Mijn VerbouwPremie and Mijn VerbouwLening (Vlaamse overheid, the Flemish government). The conditions change regularly, so check them at the moment of your application.
If your house is too big, it can offer room to two households. With care housing (zorgwonen) you set up in or next to your home a smaller dwelling unit for at most 2 people, of whom at least one is 65 or older or needs care. That way you can live in the smaller unit and your child in the main home. If you need care and stay in the main home, whoever cares for you can live in the unit. Home and unit have the same owner, and often a notification is enough (Departement Omgeving).
Part 3
Flat, assisted-living flat or service flat: what is the difference?
A flat is an ordinary home in a building with co-owners. You share costs and decisions with the association of co-owners, and a lift or a ground-floor flat makes the difference for later.
An assisted-living flat (assistentiewoning) is meant for those who still live independently but want care and services nearby. The groups of assisted-living flats are the successors of the service flats. Anyone over 65 can live there, alone or with a partner, and in some cases you may be younger. Flanders has 36,345 assisted-living flats (Departement Zorg, the Flemish care department, 2026).
If you rent an assisted-living flat, you pay a daily rate with a housing and a service component. If you buy one, you only pay the service component, which covers among others the call system, crisis and bridging care, the housing assistant and activities (Departement Zorg). Ask before you buy how much that daily rate is and how it evolves.
Rent or buy? Renting gives flexibility and keeps your capital free, buying gives certainty about your housing cost. Look at it with your bank and with whoever you trust in money matters.
Part 4
What does selling yield?
What is released is roughly your sale price minus what is still outstanding on your loan, minus the costs of the sale and of your next home. Calmly list the items:
Sale price: a free valuation based on the address gives you a first idea, not an official valuation.
Costs of the sale: the certificates, such as the EPC (energy performance certificate), the asbestos certificate and the electrical inspection, and what you pay to sell, yourself or with a realtor.
Loan: if you repay your mortgage loan early, the bank can charge a reinvestment fee of at most three months’ interest on the amount you repay (Wikifin, February 2026).
Your next home: the registration duty, the fee and the costs of the notary, or when renting the deposit and the rent.
Move and furnishing: a smaller home often requires other furniture, and clearing out takes time.
Part 5
Which registration duty do you pay on your smaller home?
If you buy a flat or a smaller home as your sole owner-occupied home, you pay % registration duty in Flanders instead of 1 % (Vlaamse Belastingdienst, the Flemish Tax Administration). If you still have your current home, you commit to selling it within 2 years after the deed of your new home. If that fails, you pay the difference with 1 % on top, plus 2 % tax increase on that difference.
A worked example from 2026: you sell your house for € 00,000 and your loan is paid off. You buy a flat of € 50,000. According to an example from the notarial profession (July 2025), buying a family home of € 50,000 in Flanders costs about € ,370 in total, of which € ,000 registration duty. That leaves about € 40,600, before the costs of your sale and your move.
Selling first gives certainty about your budget, buying first about your next home. If you buy first, you therefore have 2 years to sell. A bridging loan can finance the interim period: you pay interest on the full amount until you repay it in one go (Wikifin, February 2026).
The Flemish Government wants to raise the rate to % from 1 January 2027. That has been announced, not yet decided. According to the Vlaamse Belastingdienst the date of the sale agreement would count, subject to the decree (position of 1 October 2026). In Brussels and Wallonia other rules apply.
Part 6
What about taxes, care budget and later your inheritance?
On the sale of your own home you usually pay no capital gains tax. It applies to a built home that you sell within 5 years after the purchase, and even then not if the home was your own home without interruption for at least 12 months immediately before the sale (FOD Financiën). If you also sell a second residence, read the guide on capital gains tax.
If you receive a care budget for elderly people with a care need, the care fund recalculates it after a sale or gift, and that usually leads to a reduction or termination. You report the sale within 3 months; whoever does not report has to repay what was paid out in excess (Departement Zorg). If you receive an income guarantee for the elderly, ask the Federal Pensions Service in advance what a sale changes.
Also think of later. The surviving partner pays no inheritance tax in Flanders on the family home if you were married, legally cohabiting or de facto cohabiting for at least 3 years (Vlaamse Belastingdienst). That exemption follows the home where you live together, so also your new, smaller home. For money and other movable assets a partner allowance of € 5,000 applies for deaths from 1 January 2026 (Vlaamse Belastingdienst).
If you want to give part of the proceeds to your children, discuss that first with your notary: gifting has its own rules and its own taxes.
Part 7
How do you prepare downsizing at your own pace?
Preparing is most of the work, and you can do that calmly before you decide anything. Start with what takes longest: you need the EPC before you put the home up for sale, the asbestos certificate must be ready at the sale agreement for a home from before 2001, and you apply for a soil certificate before the sale agreement (Vlaamse overheid, OVAM).
If your house is older and has label E or F, your buyer has to renovate it to label D or better within 6 years after the deed. As seller you do not have to renovate; an honest EPC helps your buyer to substantiate their bid (Vlaamse overheid).
At Hoobler you start a sale dossier for free from the address, with an account via itsme. Hoobler retrieves what it can, such as the land registry data, the planning information and the regional zoning plan (gewestplan), and shows which other documents your home needs. EPC, asbestos certificate and electrical inspection you order there via partner De Immowinkel, at their rate.
How you then sell, yourself or with a realtor, you decide later; the selling guide helps you choose. If you are looking for something smaller yourself, in the showroom on hoobler.be you find homes that owners sell directly, with a search that keeps you informed by e-mail.
Also give clearing out time. Years of belongings are not sorted in a weekend, and what the children want to keep, you had best ask early.
Frequently asked questions
Answered briefly.
When is the best time to downsize?
There is no fixed age. Whoever starts in time chooses the pace and the place themselves. Signals are empty rooms, stairs or a garden that become a burden, and the distance to shops, care and family.
How much time do you have to sell your house if you buy a flat first?
For % registration duty on your flat in Flanders you sell your house within 2 years after the deed of the flat (Vlaamse Belastingdienst). If that fails, you pay the difference with 1 % on top, plus 2 % tax increase.
Do you pay capital gains tax if you sell your house to downsize?
Usually not. On a built home that you have owned for more than 5 years you pay no capital gains tax, and within those 5 years not either if it was your own home without interruption for at least 12 months immediately before the sale (FOD Financiën).
Can you buy an assisted-living flat?
Yes. If you buy an assisted-living flat, you then only pay the service component of the daily rate, for among others the call system and the housing assistant (Departement Zorg). Anyone over 65 can live there, and in some cases you may be younger.
Does your care budget change if you sell your house?
Probably yes, if you receive a care budget for elderly people with a care need. The care fund recalculates it after a sale, usually with a reduction or termination. Report the sale within 3 months (Departement Zorg).