Aside from anything else, I’ve seen a couple of examples of downsizing up close and in neither case did it end up with them making very much money on the deal. They just ended up with smaller places.

In the first case they ended up with a small apartment which they actually ended up having to sell some of their retirement investments to be able to afford after selling a large family home in the outer suburbs and paying all the costs associated with selling.

In the other case she moved from a large family home in the outer suburbs into one of those “retirement communities”. The whole thing’s a massive scam. You “buy” the unit but you don’t actually own it, you just own a leasehold on it. You’re not allowed to even improve or renovate it - they impose rules on you more like a rental. And when you move out you’re not allowed to sell it, they reserve the right to sell it and pay you a massively discounted price. Essentially they steal half the value of what you originally paid in a time when house prices are going up as well. It’s straight up theft from old people who are trusting and compliant.