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?

My DM has a large south facing home and although the front rooms are a bit chilly if the heating isn’t on, the back ones are warm from the sun most of the day in to evening (in summer). My mum loves the warm, by dad used to go to the front of the house in summer for the cool rooms! Best of both really!
Some people don’t like the heat at all so I think it will depend.

No because demand outstrips supply

We've got a large detached 4 bed 1960's house. It's open plan downstairs so the lounge can be a bit chilly (we have a log burner but don't use it a lot). We've also got a cosy den area that we tend to use more. Part of the house is an extension, which is really well insulated, but I must top up the loft insulation on half of the house to make it a bit cheaper to heat.

I just went through our bills and pre price rises we have been paying £80 a month for electricity and about £90 a month on gas from October to April, but that will be a lot less over April to October as just the water heating to pay for. I estimated that if we hadn't fixed until Oct 23 (thank goodness we did) then we would be paying just over £200 a month across the year now, then potentially about £300 a month if predictions about the price cap rises in October are correct.

So more expensive to hear than a new build, but probably cheaper than a smaller, older house. I think older houses will become less attractive, especially big ones. When we bought this house it was cheap for the size/location as people much preferred 1930s houses to 1960s ones, but I think 1960s and 1970s houses will be quite popular as they tend to have more spacious rooms than new builds, they are pretty solidly built and they are fairly easy to heat.

Like lots of people, we are planning to have solar panels fitted to try and mitigate price rises. Pay back periods are getting shorter now prices are rising so it's more worthwhile.

@PoshWatchShitShoes how is it possible to use so much? genuinely confused, you are using per month what we use per year!

@deadlanguage I haven't given it much thought. I think it's just a big house and we use all of it every day now that we're mostly wfh. I do 3 loads of washing and tumble drying a day, 2 loads of dishwasher and DC usually eat before us, so cooking time is doubled and then multiple baths and showers. So it's probably higher because I don't try to not make it high. Thinking about it there's also lighting around the house and outside that comes on at night. So there are definitely areas I could tweak. October rises will be here before we know it, but it wouldn't make me move.

Reading this makes me sad.

We have large, detached, rural. Pay out ~ 8k per yr on electricity and gas. Unfortunately, need to upgrade windows and insulation. Not sure when that can happen. Am in retirement. Will not sell at this point, until need to for medical reasons. It is untenable. And anticipate it getting worse.

Over the years our house has grown. Large double extension and a loft conversion. Since living here (15 years) we have consistently used between 20-25kw of electricity a day. As for gas we use less than we did 15 years ago I assume due to insulation added whilst renovating.

[quote PoshWatchShitShoes]@deadlanguage I haven't given it much thought. I think it's just a big house and we use all of it every day now that we're mostly wfh. I do 3 loads of washing and tumble drying a day, 2 loads of dishwasher and DC usually eat before us, so cooking time is doubled and then multiple baths and showers. So it's probably higher because I don't try to not make it high. Thinking about it there's also lighting around the house and outside that comes on at night. So there are definitely areas I could tweak. October rises will be here before we know it, but it wouldn't make me move.[/quote]
I agree, I’ve never taken much notice of what we use. We have 2 ponds, 2 aquariums, a hot tub on all year, heated bathroom floors, washer and dryer on daily etc etc. Since the price increases I’ve been more careful, turned the underfloor heating down, been using the washing line more, switched off the hot tub, shorter showers etc. i won’t compromise on being warm though! We used quite a lot less electricity in March than in February.

I think the trend for open plan and high vaulted ceilings will go. People are looking to only heat the room they are in, and it’s no good if it’s half the house or all the heat is escaping up to a high ceiling.
I’m already thinking of installing a heavy curtain to split our L shaped hall and keep more of the heat in the living space of our house .

Why can't we uncap the north sea gas and just only use it for UK residents? Also focus on insulate our homes and reduce need for any of this huge consumption.

@Suzi888

My DM has a large south facing home and although the front rooms are a bit chilly if the heating isn’t on, the back ones are warm from the sun most of the day in to evening (in summer). My mum loves the warm, by dad used to go to the front of the house in summer for the cool rooms! Best of both really! Some people don’t like the heat at all so I think it will depend.

My south facing rooms are warm all day too. In those circumstances, open doors are a bonus, and allow heat to escape to the north and east rooms.

@troppibambini6

Our gas and electric has gone up from £300 a month to £800.

Fuck 😳😱🤯

Not sure but my energy efficient new build is saving us a fortune.

I live in a south facing new build and its absolutely scorching in summer. Last year I bought an air con unit, which will probably cost me a fortune in summer.

I was looking to move last year. Had a few offers, accepted one.
Then couldn't find anywhere I liked.
I'm in a two bed, townhouse layout, so we rarely use the ground floor. Everything is on the first floor. It's warmer!
My children share and now will have to continue to do so. I'm too scared to move to a three bed where it'll cost more to heat etc.

I am inheriting a decent sum early next year, I plan on giving a couple of grand to Octopus up front.

I have had radio to my neck twice and and chemo once, I am eight stone wet through and permanently cold, I then when I was recovering developed breast cancer more radio, more chemo more weight loss.

This energy crisis will pass, #child of the 70's and I do genuinely feel for everyone, but I would rather give up wine and holidays to be comfortably warm, DH doesn't feel the cold, and would rather have the wine and the holidays, so pre paying looks like our best option.

Misses point of original post it is a three bed, three reception detached house, with a small utility room and a small boiler room at the back, but I have always insisted on doors, all of a sudden I don't look so nit picky.

We're going to get our loft re insulated and look into solar panels, our downstairs is all open plan and hard wood, so thinking of swapping to carpets ... but we would not move , just try and adapt the house

It would be good if older people down size, free up those larger houses for families and get the property market moving. There are a lot of older couples living in 4 and 5 bedroom homes when it's only the two of them there.

DockOTheBay I think older people hung on to their larger family homes to pass on as inheritance to their families. However, with rising prices including social care costs a lot more larger houses will be sold.

Rises in energy prices are far easier to absorb than the costs of moving home. I wouldn’t even consider moving home, maybe look at ways to make energy use more efficient in my current home though.
People who are buying large houses spend less of their disposable income on utilities so they can absorb the energy prices more readily if need be.

I've never liked big houses to be honest. I like small and cosy. I live in a 2 bedroom semi purely because I have DS, but honestly if I was single with no kids I'd happily live in a studio flat. Less cleaning!

@TheLadyDIdGood

DockOTheBay I think older people hung on to their larger family homes to pass on as inheritance to their families. However, with rising prices including social care costs a lot more larger houses will be sold.

If they downsize and have the money in the bank, it can still be inherited can't it? Or are there different taxes or something?

We have a 2000 sq ft 1930s home, the updated new energy bill is £250/mth and we have taken no steps to control our heating plus are home all day. We don't like drafts so fixed those, we bought new efficient radiators and we have double glazing throughout. A 50% mortgage would be about 15 times that cost per month so it isn't a huge factor for buyers in terms of their expenditure.

We are considering solar panels and ground source heat pumps, mix of protecting the house roof from the sun, self-sufficiency, future house value and environmental reasons. For a bit of perspective, stamp duty and fees to downsize enormously would still be £35,000, so we could switch to having near zero bills for less than the cost of moving.

In expensive parts of the country it is more likely when people really look into it that they will look to replace windows, fix drafts, install solar panels and generally take steps to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. Some who are wasteful in other ways using guzzlers such as hot tubs might adjust behaviour too. It's wishful thinking that everyone will sell up their bigger homes though, sorry OP.

Or will larger houses be the ones to get alternative heat sources, we are considering a ground source heat pump to replace gas for example and have room for an electric connection for an electric car which we would consider when we next change our car.