Why are new builds teeny tiny?

[Baptiste11]

Went to view a new housing estate yesterday and had a look round the show home. Well. It was tiny. It was a 3 bed semi with parking for 2 cars but inside I could not believe the room dimensions.

The kitchen/diner had a small table and chairs in, the lounge was so tiny it only had a small two seater and an armchair. The family bathroom had no window and was tiny. The master bedroom did have a small fitted wardrobe but the other two bedrooms had no wardrobe space and were furnished with only a bedside table and dressing table - no room for a chest of drawers etc

For the price of what was obviously meant to be a family home I couldn’t believe how small it was. The thought of spending lockdown in the tiny living room made me shudder. There was also nowhere anyone could work from home - no room for a desk and chair.

How do developers get away with building such tiny properties?

Apparently most of the development is sold out & there is a waiting list for the next phase!
And you have to pay a service charge and a grounds fee every year (which they can increase whenever they want) just for the pleasure of living there!

Because property is expensive, we live on a small island and builders want to maximise their profits.

That's what put me off buying a new build. It's absolute greed from developers trying to fit as many houses on a plot of land as possible. I see many new builds snapped up around my area and then listed for sale just a couple of years later on Rightmove. Unfortunately, people get bought into the aesthetic and don't think about the practicalities until it's too late. If people continue to buy, developers will continue to build these micro houses.

I know this is Chat but YANBU.

How do they get away with it? There is a national housing shortage and people can't afford to shell out thousands or tens of thousands to buy houses that sell for well above the valuation. Plus people like new builds.

I have a friend who was enticed last year with a shiny 4 bed new build. Once she was in, she figured out the floor space was actually LESS than the 3 bed semi they had previously. It's lovely and everything but unless you can afford a high-end builder then you are going to be stuck with small dimensions. They are very good at dressing the show homes (small sofas, queen sized beds, no wardrobes etc) to distract from how small they are.

Because land and materials cost a fortune these days so developers are making much less.

Micro house is a good word. The show home was stunning, it had a very luxurious feel and the fittings were amazing. But I wouldn’t have been able to fit any of my furniture in.
I totally get how people fall for the show home, but a plot & then sell a few years later when the reality of living in a tiny space sets in.
But the price!

YANBU. I work in this field and you often see plots of say 6 x terrace houses (ie. family homes) being demolished to be replaced with something like 32 units.

It's a combo of 1) we need more houses and 2) developer's greed - which is often supported by the state for the purpose of 1.

If I was going to buy a property I'd 100 per cent go for an ex local authority rather than a new build or even a conversion as at least these homes were designed for people to live in not solely for profit.

They need to bring back proper council housing.

Have you looked at other developments? My son bought a house last year (well a shared ownership) a two bed and it's a really good size. Two decent sized bedrooms and a kitchen diner that's a decent size

Plus rules about density from planning authorities.
Land with planning permission in desirable areas is very expensive. Builders will only develop and build where and how they can make a profit.

It’s awful, plus they’re totally soulless and always on tiny plots with tiny gardens

I’d never buy a new build

It’s in some planning requirements that there’s a certain density of houses/units per area of land, which I assume was intended to address the housing shortage around here. And also the developers do make more money.

Smaller developers rather than the huge homebuilders tend to be better. Still less space than an older style property though. It’s greed - cram as many in as possible.

I agree, we have looked at some new builds (mostly out of curiosity!) but they are tiny, no space for any reasonable storage (eg wardrobes, drawers), and the smallest gardens imaginable!

One included the outside open balcony in the dimensions of the bedroom … (added about a meter to the room!)

Much prefer period houses with all their problems because at least they have more space!

Because there are no rules to stop the developers from building unfit for purpose houses. They cram as many houses as possible on each piece of land to maximise profit, the councils approve them to maximise council tax revenue. People buy them as that is all they can afford or that is what’s available.

We looked at one years ago and it was shockingly small. Like hugging the wall to get around the bed. Couldn't all fit in the bathroom at the same time.

We ended up buying this house which is about 21 years old and my god, you get so much more house, garden, driveway, distance from neighbours for your money.

I think it depends on the builders. We've just bought a new build this year and one of the reasons the houses appealed were the generous sizes and huge gardens. Where I live though our part of the development is well planned. The development nearby is Taylor wimpey shoe boxes crammed in.

Our builder told us on a plot size like our development other big multi nationals would have squeezed 200 properties. There's less than 150 on ours.

I live in a new build and it's big. However my previous house was tiny (newish built).
You need to check the different specs, and house builders. Rather than looking at the lowest priced 4 bed for example, look at the highest priced 3 bed, you might find you'll get much more usable space that way.
Think about where you'll store your stuff. Is there space for wardrobes? Is there a general purpose cupboard for the vacuum etc?
Or you could just not buy a new build.

I hate the short termism of how we let land be developed. I understand the need for profit and people buy whats available. But i wish they built with climate change in mind. Just orientatung houses so more can have solar panels, future flooding etc. There are pplaces in the world where estates have roads and communal spaces that are literally desinged too flood in bad weather but the houses are ok.

What area of the country is it? I viewed new builds on the south coast and they were tiny whereas in the midlands they’re a good size. The big pull for new builds for me is being able to move on in without having to do much snd getting to choose your kitchen, carpets, tiling etc without having to live in a house while the work is being completed

I live in a new build. It's 2350 sq ft and I wouldn't call that small perhaps look at different developers instead of the likes of Barratt etc?

It wasn’t just the dimensions of the house that were small. The roads on site were tiny. One narrow little road to get in and out, cars having to wait while you squeezed past. The whole development just screamed tightness.

There obviously wasn’t enough parking as there were cars parked on the tiny roads, cars parked ON the very narrow pavements. All this for almost 500k!

we have bought a new build, it is really big, room sizes are brilliant garden is a good size, however the development is split into part Persimmon part Charles Church houses and the houses they are building now down our street the entire downstairs is probably smaller than our kitchen/dining room. probably make a nice starter home but they are still 150k!

My last home, bought 9 years ago was lovely. Spacious lots of room and storage. Corner plot with a decent garden. We sold due to divorce.

I have been in my current home for 3 years and want to move to have been looking at new builds and it doesn't make sense.

Where I am now, house prices are fairly cheap as its not a fantastic are. It quiet but quite poor. New builds are going up. Tiny inside. Tiny gardens. But are being sold for more than bigger houses in the very nice commuter village a mile and a half away.

The village isn't that far away that it's inaccessible. The town with the new builds has poor transport links and not much employment opportunity (ex mining town). These houses are fairly near the town centre where there is more antisocial behaviour.

It just doesn't make sense that a family would choose to buy in a worse area for low level crime. Have less space in their house a tiny garden AND pay more than the picturesque village, with bigger houses, more space inside and out, that's so close it about 3 minutes drive in a car.

Genuinely baffled it. We are moving to the village. And the people selling new builds keep calling me and get annoyed that I tell them, their properties are over priced and I can buy better nearby.

It really depends where you are as different builders build for different types of people depending on location. Red Row, for example, were only building basic entry level homebuy properties in the SE last year; but were building luxury homes up north which were much bigger. They were still admittedly smaller plotwise than the existing homes in the area but the living space itself was much better.

I also know of luxury house builders locally that only build a few properties but they are all over 4-5k sq ft - their houses never go on right move as they don’t need to. They get all their business through local advertising and repeat customers.

They want to maximise profits. They need to please their share holders who want profits. They are obliged to cram as many houses as possible in. People want new things, not second hand. They want clean new things. Also the idea of being caught in a chain is not appealing, the buying process is far less stressful with a new build. Its also more affordable for lots of people. Developers will often buy your house etc.

It’s very often the case with new builds unfortunately and it’s naturally because the more houses the developers can cram on a site, the more profit they make.
Used to work in the trade and one stands out in my head. One small-ish bungalow (3 bed off the top of my head) was demolished and five 2-bed houses were built in its place. They were minuscule, as in the only floor space in the kitchen was to open the door onto etc.