Hanging on the wall of Louise Tyler's sitting room is an oil painting that was owned by her great aunt. The image is one she and her family have known their whole life. But her three adult sons have no interest in keeping the heirloom for their own homes.

"If I gave that to my kids, they'd just laugh," the sleep technologist says from her home in St Ives. "I've kept things like that and the family silver because it means something to me but I don't think it means anything to my sons."

Mobile lifestyle: Some millennials feel tied down by family heirlooms. Credit:Peter Rae

She is one of a swelling number of baby boomers who, as they focus on downsizing and start planning inheritance, are faced with the reality of uninterested heirs and a generation that is looking for a "lighter way of living."

Rather than hold out for the family Royal Doulton, brown wood cabinets and grandma's brooch collection, more and more millennials are prioritising purpose over sentiment. As lives become more mobile, some young people don't want to be tied down to possessions that don't fit in with a more disposable, digitised lifestyle.