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 parents live in a three storey, 5 bed Edwardian house. High ceilings, lots of fiddling over the years, rooms knocked through etc. It has two boilers. By the October price rise I estimate their usage will be approximately £730 a month (I looked through their smart meter at the weekend!)
My house is primarily 16th century and it has been subject to very little change over the years, bar a single storey extension on the back with a kitchen in one half and a bathroom in the other, once those rooms had become a "thing". Low ceilings, little rooms and areas separated by doors. There are old curtain tracks over many of the doors (that I will be bringing back into use). There are three chimneys (only 2 operational now). It will probably cost us £110 a month on energy by October.
I think house design will become a big issue. Open plan, floor to ceiling glass walls, all from a time when energy was cheap and plentiful. It will be a good few years before we return to those times, assuming we build nuclear reactors.

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.

I was referring more to those who don't have thousands of pounds of K in there bank account. Most people I know who move use equity to pay stamp duty, that's what I'm using.

It's wishful thinking that everyone will sell up their bigger homes though, sorry OP.

Where have I said that? I don't want nor can afford a massive house where I live. To put it in perspective the terraces Im looking to move too have a stamp duty cost of 50k plus.

I think house design will become a big issue. Open plan, floor to ceiling glass walls, all from a time when energy was cheap and plentiful. It will be a good few years before we return to those times, assuming we build nuclear reactors.

Ideally our next move will be a project & making it energy efficient will be a high priority which is not something I really thought about too much before. I guess all of us being more conscious is a good thing though.

Just bought a five bed new build, looks a bit like an enormous lego brick from outside but tons of space and energy bills surprisingly lower than expected so must be very well insulated. Heating is on eight hours a day atm to 20 degrees and I reckon gas will cost about £100 this month. We actually pay more for electricity since we both wfh.

There are only two of us though and we have rads turned off in the rooms we havent got furniture for yet.

Most people I know who move use equity to pay stamp duty, that's what I'm using.
I thought it was DP and PIL moving in your OP?
The payback of becoming zero energy make it a decent mortgage option. £35k cost for a top end heat pump & panel solution (probably less than this) would be say £166/month on a 25yr mortgage but moves energy bills to near zero; so for younger people it's a worthwhile loan despite interest. Of course a 25 yr mortgage isn't generally available to the elderly, but no reason why one or more banks or some government backed scheme shouldn't choose to offer specialist loans only for this purpose where funds are released just to the green energy fitters for example, because it reduces bills and the country's carbon footprint overall.

@Excited0803 I'm moving (have sold not found anything I love yet). My OP was inspired by my parents, inlaws & older colleagues talking about moving due to rising bills. None of them are anywhere close to moving yet just talking about it.

And my parents are also struggling with the maintenance tbh

With rising costs though I have certainly become more conservative with what I'm looking to buy.

Ah I see, you're all on the move. Good luck with it!

PIL live in a big four bed, they close doors and turn off rads in the rooms they don’t use. Aren’t keen to downsize despite the hike for lots of reasons

@hippyfarmer I've noticed there are "help to buy windows schemes" and am wondering if one of these would be any help for you? One emailed me and mentioned retired people as qualifying (I don't for different reasons).

Large houses in our area are very expensive now and tend to sell within 3 days. It depends where you live.

@Excited0803 thanks. My parents can't go anywhere yet as I may be moving in with them till I find somewhere, so thank god for the space! 😆

I'm downsizing from a three bed semi to a 2 bed because of the cost of heating. But I decided that before the energy price rises.

tbh I think my dad was worried about if they do sell increased competition from others on sale would perhaps reduce what he gets so it's good that so many think opposite.

[quote Toponeniceone]**@Otherpeoplesteens sorry I'm just bring lazy and asking you! We're about to get our old windows replaced. Can you see that triple glazed will be the norm rather than double glazed?[/quote]
I'm not sure what I've done to become an expert on building, just a humble SAHD here who reads a lot of government white papers while the kids nap or I'm sitting on the bog.

Without making any claims to expertise on this, triple glazing is self-evidently better than double at retaining heat. If that is the ultimate objective then of course triple will become the norm, like it has in Scandinavia for decades and and will rapidly do so in places like Germany once their Russian gas is cut off. They are also rather better at sound insulation.

Against that, it is more expensive than double and considerably heavier. There is a law of diminishing returns on adding in extra panes of glass - it is not 50% more effective than double. Whether it becomes cost effective in our climate is open to debate and depends on energy prices as well as where else your home loses energy, but it seems intuitive that triple glazing will be far more attractive than double for most people.

What really worries me about the rush to better insulation is the spectacular solar gain some UK properties achieve in summer which makes well-insulated homes both uncomfortably hot and difficult to cool down without airconditioning. I'd love to be able to shield my west- and east-facing glass with external shutters like they do in hot places, but all the windows and doors on my 2017 new build open outwards. If you go to Europe, where shutters to keep the summer sun out are common, they all slide or open inwards, and dual hinged (side and bottom) are becoming increasingly common. That would be my next move for windows.

Yes probably which will then put up the price of your average 2/3 bed house so bigger issues for first time buyers etc again

@ImplementingTheDennisSystem you can't fix it to an exact price though

Older people that I know haven't downsized because they have lived in their family homes for 30 odds years and consider them their forever homes.
They want to keep the space so they can keep their furniture etc and have space for the family to stay.
My elderly parent was Beverly persuaded to downsize - but when we worked out how much the stamp duty and other costs were it didn't seem worth it. It might have happened if they had done it when they first retired - but then they wanted to be in their forever home enjoying it as they had spent 30 years being a wage slave paying it off.

@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.

That doesn't always tally though - several friends of mine have stretched themselves for their dream home and wouldn't have factored in these huge rises. One of them downsized again after a couple of years because of the bills and that was before this recent increase.

@theschitt
My mum is in this situation.
She only lives in an ordinary 3 bed semi, but it has 3 large living spaces downstairs and is really now a bit big for her on her own. But her options for moving involve either buying something leasehold aimed at retirees with monthly charges, or buying a bungalow for more than her house is worth, or buying a 2-bed terraced house in worse shape than her own house and with paper-thin walls.
So she'll probably stay put and add a downstairs bathroom and/or stair lift if she needs one.

I think older, larger houses will be less attractive.
Newer ones with better insulation not so much.

In recent years, thanks to low interest rates, lots of buyers have stretched to buy a property that may be slightly beyond their means (whatever they may be). The general increase in cost of living and energy price hikes will put those buyers off now, I think. Plus, it may force the hand of some owners who were already finding it a bit of a squeeze to sell up.

I own and (live in) a 4000sqft, detached, period house with small converted outbuilding of around 300sqft. My children grew up here, we all think of it as ‘home’ and have a real emotional tie to it. If and when I move, I want it to be because I chose to, not because I’m being forced out by untenable running costs. Same as most people, I’m sure.

Thankfully we fixed our dual energy costs prior to the big price hikes, though prices had already started to increase. We spend around £450pm on gas & electric combined. GCH, dual fuel range, gas fire in one room (rarely used), wood burners in a couple of others (again, rarely lit), electric heating in an outbuilding. Over the years we’ve added insulation and replaced windows and doors for architecturally appropriate, energy efficient versions. Changed the boiler for a modern, efficient A rated version. The house has large rooms but isn’t open plan. We’ve switched the radiators off in rooms we don’t use and turned the hot water thermostat and central heating thermostats down a bit to try to save a little.