Will energy bills make bigger houses less attractive?

[hypaingea]

I grew up in a big house & my parents are talking about downsizing as the energy bills are going through the roof (it's quite an efficient house just large).
Just picked up my dc from the inlaws & they are saying similar & some of my older colleagues at work have been saying similar this week.
We are looking to move (have sold) & are looking for more space but rising bills are scaring me so I'm deliberately looking for smaller, cheaper houses as I'm worried re the future. Are energy bills going to stay high? If so will large houses be less popular?

I’ve had a few conversations where open plan has been identified as less desirable after lockdowns, particularly when there’s no other room to retreat to downstairs. I’d be happier with less massive kitchens/living rooms personally.

I hadn't even thought about it wrt lockdown. I guess with wfh becoming more prevalent, if people who want/have to do some of it can't afford a bigger property, one alternative is same size smaller rooms.

I’m in a 4bed, single glazed, Victorian conversion and on a payg meter, so I was worried. Topped up gas a couple of days ago and had £28 in there. Used the heating for 3 hours. 24 hours later I’d used £1.80. Which is fine. My rates definitely gone up as a meter reader came on the 31st and confirmed it. The max I would ever have the heating on in a day is 5-6 hours, if it was freezing. Which would still be affordable.

I think it’s more efficiency than size - you can limit the number of rooms you’re heating but that won’t do much good if it’s going straight out the window. Hopefully it will mean the end of bloody conservatories though.

I guess it depends upon what’s classed as a large house really. I can’t imagine someone who can drop multiple millions on a house are going to be that bothered by the running costs! I’d imagine larger houses will only be desirable by those who can afford to buy and run them, and those that are pushing themselves mortgage wise to buy a larger house will probably stop for a while.

Looking at righmove at two bed terraces and lots say that due to their energy efficiency they can’t be rented in the current state. So now not wanted by BTL landlords.

I've seen this whilst browsing too & didn't realise about the can't believe rented thing

With childcare costs, energy costs , and care costs all spiraling out of control, big buildings used as multi generational households would make a lot of sense.

Trouble is stamp wipes out any savings on heating - you'd have to save a fortune to balance out what the costs of moving are.

I guess it depends upon what’s classed as a large house really. I can’t imagine someone who can drop multiple millions on a house are going to be that bothered by the running costs! I’d imagine larger houses will only be desirable by those who can afford to buy and run them, and those that are pushing themselves mortgage wise to buy a larger house will probably stop for a while.

I know a lot of people who have expensive houses just because when they bought as opposed to being well off initially eg my parents. I also know lots of people with ok/good jobs but tons of equity which they have used to climb the ladder (my older colleagues). Then I know people with excellent salaries but huge mortgages some interest only for example.

I think more retired people will downsize which is great as huge demand in my area for large houses. Doesn’t matter if the houses haven’t been renovate for 20 years they come into the market and are snapped up.

I was also wondering if it might influence those who were considering moving from the milder South east to the North hoping to take advantage of the cheaper property prices.

Trouble is stamp wipes out any savings on heating - you'd have to save a fortune to balance out what the costs of moving are.

My inlaws are asset rich & cash poor so they don't really have the money for improvements or higher bills. Downsizing would mean 25k or so on stamp duty but they have made more than 50 times that vs what they paid for the house & what it will sell for.

@ImplementingTheDennisSystem

We have a large, detached 4 bed and we've fixed our combined gas and electricity at £160 a month, which I understand is pretty decent at the moment. Our house is a characterless 80s build, but very efficient. I think character properties may decrease in favour, rather than it just being about size.

You do know that of you use more you pay more. You pay per KWH. You have fixed the rate of the KWH not your Monthly cost regardless of use. In 6 months time the energy company will do a meter reading and adjust your bill/DD up or down with your usage. There are no UK energy companies that will fix the DD regardless of use. The DD is to ensure you dont get huge Bill's.

@ImplementingTheDennisSystem

We have a large, detached 4 bed and we've fixed our combined gas and electricity at £160 a month, which I understand is pretty decent at the moment. Our house is a characterless 80s build, but very efficient. I think character properties may decrease in favour, rather than it just being about size.

Sounds similar to us. 4 bed detached, previously paying about £90/month but have just increased the direct debit to £160 to preempt the rises.

I'm shocked at how much people are paying on this thread but we barely have the heating on etc.

But will people really sell and buy again? Unless you're in a cheaper part of the country the stamp duty on a purchase would come to tens of thousands £, plus estate agents fees, moving costs. The utility price hike is big but nowhere near the cost of all of that. Eg we've just sold and in rented waiting to buy - we've spent £10k on estate agent's fees, £4k+ in removal costs and the eventual stamp duty will be about £15k.

Surely people will just end up heating one room etc?

@Umbellypico

The people who can afford really big houses, aren't going to be so impacted by high energy bills. They'll just stick a 2nd or 3rd log burner in & stick a solar panel on the roof. This is already happening where I am.

This is what I see. The big houses around me are millions of pounds, even a few thousand £ a month on energy won't deter buyers.

I don't think it will put people off big houses. There are ways to reduce energy consumption so I think that is what will happen more likely.

@pumpkintree

"ImplementingTheDennisSystem
We have a large, detached 4 bed and we've fixed our combined gas and electricity at £160 a month, which I understand is pretty decent at the moment. Our house is a characterless 80s build, but very efficient.
I think character properties may decrease in favour, rather than it just being about size."

You do know that of you use more you pay more. You pay per KWH. You have fixed the rate of the KWH not your Monthly cost regardless of use. In 6 months time the energy company will do a meter reading and adjust your bill/DD up or down with your usage. There are no UK energy companies that will fix the DD regardless of use. The DD is to ensure you dont get huge Bill's.

Yes, well aware.

We don't live in a large house, but it's larger than we need.

For as long as we can afford to be here, having the additional space is a luxury that we're currently able (and willing) to to pay for. We feel the additional space and convenience that it offers (storage, office space, guest room for example) has a much bigger impact on the quality of our day to day lives than the extra money each month would if we were to downsize slightly. Particularly as we both work from home full time.

So whilst the increase in energy bills wouldn't necessarily put me off of owning a "larger" home, if we were to move it does make me pretty closed to considering older and less energy efficient homes.

@Lunar27
Yes exactly the same as us. We have the heating on for an hour or so in the morning and again in the evening, and only in a few rooms. We do two loads of washing a week and never use the dry cycle. If we're together in the evening then we only have one lamp on and so on!

I don't think it will put people off big houses.

The whole cost of living crisis is putting me off a bigger more expensive house tbh.

Is that a real life actual bill or a quote from your provider, if its a bill how is it that much when we are only days in and it's not doubled its nearly tripled......... I'm getting puzzled by some of the figures being given our

The next few years will be interesting as the new Part L kicks in. New builds will be much more efficient than current new builds plus the new Part O which should (!) mitigate overheating issues. Volume house builders are likely to still have gas boilers but will need PV as standard.

There may well be a financial tipping point where old, inefficient dwellings will be seriously undesirable regardless of size and will start to be replaced in greater number. Hopefully, there will be a concerted effort re the embodied carbon along with that process.

Interesting times...

We are pleased we didn't move a couple of years ago.

We've been here for nearly 30 years, have insulated it well, added a woodburner and it's a warm house generally. About the best we could have got it without solar panels etc and the house doesn't have the best aspect for panels.

We had seriously thought about moving and found a house we quite liked - which is a miracle in itself. We weren't quick enough off the mark and it went, so we stayed. Please we did now as that one was very much bigger and would have been far, far, more expensive to heat.

@hypaingea

I don't think it will put people off big houses.

The whole cost of living crisis is putting me off a bigger more expensive house tbh.

Yeah, I suppose may be more accurate to say that i the increase may put some people off of buying bigger houses - I guess it depends on the percentage of income that the utilities would be in a bigger home.

I think this may be the case with owners who are paper rich with their property, but perhaps on a fixed retirement income and unable to earn more.

Our energy (gas/elec) bill is estimated at £645 a month this month, up from £411 a month previously. It's not a big enough impact to consider a house move.