For a generation of homeowners who bought their family houses for a few thousand pounds in the 1970s and 1980s, the assumption that a comfortable retirement would be funded by a seven-figure sale has quietly unravelled. New analysis of Land Registry and Zoopla data shows the number of homes changing hands above £1 million fell by roughly 15% in the past year, with average time on market for these properties stretching beyond five months compared with under three months in 2021. The dream of the million-pound exit, once a near-certainty in the South East's commuter belt, is now colliding with higher borrowing costs, stamp duty reform and a buyer pool that simply cannot stretch to meet asking prices calibrated to a different era.