OLDER people living in houses 'too big for their needs' and a lack of smaller alternatives are leaving younger people struggling to buy homes.

New figures have revealed Oxford homeowners are only moving every 18 years.

The average time between house moves has slumped to once every 17.8 years – the highest since records began.

Data taken from the Land Registry and the 2011 census also revealed there were more than 12,000 homes with two or more spare bedrooms in the city.

Oxford City Council leader Bob Price said the only solution was to get on with building more homes but expressed frustration at delays in bringing forward sites.

Director of estate agent Martin and Co, Bill Cooper, who analysed the figures, said there was a 'severe case of under-occupation' in the city.

He said: "Many of the older generation in Oxford are stuck in property that is simply too big for their needs.

"As young families struggle to move up the housing ladder, with those young families bursting at the seams in homes too small for them, we have a severe case of under-occupation amongst the older generation – retired people staying put in their bigger homes, with a profusion of spare bedrooms with a dearth of smaller alternative properties available to them."

In November the Chancellor's Budget revealed a £215m housing deal for Oxfordshire to build 100,000 homes in the county by 2031.

City Council leader Bob Price said the only resolution to the imbalance was building more homes but that the authority's plans for 3,500 homes at Grenoble Road had stalled.

He said: "Older people don't tend to want to leave Oxford to live in places such as Bournemouth, Poole or Bordeaux.

"They have everything they need here. It's a very attractive place to live, it's well connect to London with good access to health services and shops.

"In terms of providing for younger people, the only way to tackle that is by building more homes and unlocking the sites to provide them.

"I don't see spare bedrooms as a problem – people often use them for visitors and family returning home.

"We are working through all the local plans and have a number of sites for housing planned in Kidlington and Yarnton, for example to meet Oxford's unmet need.

"But the one site we own, at Grenoble Road we haven't had an agreement from South Oxfordshire District Council, which is frustrating."

An initiative called Homeshare Oxford has been matching older people with spare rooms with younger people looking for somewhere to live.

It has been running in the city for the past two and a half years.

Director, Marian Pocock, said the number of older people wanting to stay at home was growing.

She said: "We know that the preference for many older people in Oxford is to stay in their own homes and to remain as independent as possible for as long as possible.

"We know too that there is a huge shortage of affordable homes in Oxford which is a significant factor in the recruitment crisis affecting health, education and a number of other public sector jobs.

"We can offer a solution to the parallel issues of the growing number of older people wanting to stay at home but in need of some practical support or companionship, and the chronic housing crisis affecting younger people."