Is 60m2 too small for a family home?

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We are looking to move and have found a two bed place that ticks all the boxes but it's small (60m2). Dh thinks it ridiculous to even consider it but I think it could work. We have one DC and this ticks both the location and school boxes. Caveat - not sure whether we could afford to move again or assume we could. We are in SE so even 60m2 aren't cheap. Has anyone successfully lived in a small place indefinitely? Are we mad to consider it?

@socialmedia23 we’re not in London so I imagine the housing market is quite different there but there are quite a few children in my daughters school who will be inheriting properties or getting hefty deposits for their own home. Our children are all 8 and under; we started young!

We are the only ones I know who didn't get help from parents (apart from rent free living for a few years, which is still help but would not add up to a triple digit deposit) We do have a friend who is a Cambridge educated lawyer who we don't think has gotten help as she is not from a rich family but is not 100% sure. SHe bought a house in her early 30s with her partner which was the same price as our flat i.e. around the 400k mark (which is probably around OP's budget too for a terraced house in the SE) so we think she probably didn't get much help. Otherwise, everyone else got triple digit deposits from their parents (a lot of which was raised from parents downsizing). The average london deposit for a flat is 100k so that makes sense.

But given that the competition for london property is global, i don't think this would be enough in the future. Like you can sell your house, but the money that can be raised from selling a 3/4 bed terraced in the London suburbs is not huge compared to the money that really rich people have, especially if that is required to fund pensions.

And of course as londoners get priced out, they move out and this also affects the rest of the country.

I had a 70m2 terraced cottage shared with DP and his 2 DC. We had to be tidy, and we used the garden a lot in summer, including a summerhouse that effectively gave us an extra room.

I think it's perfectly doable with one DC, especially as the benefits of good schools and a reasonable commute are hugely important to quality of life. I'd go for it!

Location, location, location. A 1 hour 20 minute commute is not practical at all. You’ll never be at home or be able to pick your child up from school. I would always chose location over space. Location has far more bearing on your quality of living.

Mine is about 75sqm. The other apartment is the same layout as mine and they are a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 young girls) and have been there a good few years now and seem to be absolutely fine with the room
Layout attached

I live in a similar size flat with 2dcs (though a better layout) and it's fine. It's all about location for us and also keeping costs down. Mortgage has been paid off and our energy bills are way below the national average for a family of 4. That means we have extra money for holidays, days out, events etc and should be able to retire early

Completely understand it wouldn't be everyone's choice but it works perfectly for us. I grew up in a very large 4 storey house so I do know what the alternative feels like!

60m2 is tiny - my DDs student bedsit was 25m2 without the kitchen

Is there enough storage? That would be the key thing for me

We live in a flat 60sqm. 2 kids (5 and 3) and 2 adults.
Its fine. I can imagine the majority of MN saying its impossible and where do you store your air fryer (dont have one!). But we love where we live so the compromise is worth it for us. We just.... dont have much stuff!

We were living in 60 square metered until recently, 2 adults, one baby/ toddler.

Although it was fine, for us it was a squeeze as Dh works from home full time, so bedroom 2 was just office and storage, and we all slept in one bedroom. The other room was open plan everything else

I think the open plan doesn’t work as well in a small space. If you had small nook in hallway for desk or in bedroom, and kitchen separate I think it would work better.

If you have child, I would put them in larger room in small size bed as long as possible so they can use room as playroom as well.

I grew up in a small apartment that couldn't have been larger than 75m2 (I'm from a European country where flats are the norm). It was pretty standard. We were a family of four, four bedrooms, at one point we even had a family member living with us. It was absolutely fine, we didn't have an outdoor space, again that's pretty standard where I'm from. It did have a lot of sunlight as there were windows on two ends of the living room, we even had room for a table and chairs in the kitchen. Oh, and 1.5 bathrooms. With a freaking bathub. That flat has to be the best use of ~75m2 I've ever seen, perfect distribution.

60m2 is on the smallish side of things, but really not that small, I've seen plenty of families have perfectly normal lives in these conditions.

I live in a place about 60m2...have done for 5 years now. It can be challenging but I have 2 kids.
If it was just one child I think it would be fine.
I notice it most when people visit, we are used to moving round each other at close quarters but visitors usually aren't. Except when we had our friends who live in Singapore over. We expected to need to explain the necessary choreography only to find they were doing it already and that's because our place was totally normal by Singapore standards. 🤣

To make it work out helps if
you are tidy
Like each other
Love your location (big plus!)
Don't have lots of possessions
Well designed storage

Totally agree

We were cosy and happy in a house that size with one child. Child two came along and it was too much. Moved to a house literally double in size. I can’t imagine us being in the little place now but it was a lot less hassle and had a nicer vibe.

We definitely wouldnt be contemplating this with more than one child. Have been watching videos on living in small places. It would be good to know what it feels like when DCs are older. On the plus side, the school would be great and so close, downside I guess is no parties at ours

It's the size of the bedrooms that would put me off. That much space in a different layout would be fine.

My kids are 10 and 12 and we live in that space. It's fine, they learn to be considerate because everyone in the house is having to be, example and necessity combined.
Presents get easier as experiences or small electronic gadgets become the wanted things. Big plastic tat is out. We are quite outdoorsy so we get out and about a lot.
I couldn't live with a massive commute and rubbish schools to get a bigger house.
You won't be hosting parties. But your leccy bill will be small.
If you like to shut a door and feel alone by being at the other end of the house from everyone else out of earshot and that's important to your mental health then it isn't great.

Watch some YouTube videos on tiny house living, you’ll find one with teenage kids I’m sure. They have great space saving ideas on those videos.

Yes, I've found a few videos on YouTube. Really wish I was an architect now. Some of the designs are amazing

It will be fine. Especially if there is an attic or garage for storage.

Remember that these would have been built as family homes, they were not intended as homes for single people

Not so long ago you would have had a family of 6 living in 2 up 2 down!

It's just the fact that we have so much unnecessary stuff these days

I think that’s tiny personally. Our last house was 80m square with 2 adults and 1 child and we were tripping over one another. We’re now three adults in 120 square metres and it’s much better.

@socialmedia23 we are the same; didn’t get any money towards our first deposit but know many who did. We bought our first home at 21 and our friends who have needed financial help are the ones who went to university and have only managed to get on the property ladder in their late 20s/ early 30s. We bought cheap and managed to make a sizeable profit but it’s all down to timing, as with everything.

I can certainly imagine some of my DDs classmates receiving deposits like the ones you mention, and a high number of them being gifted property but this may differ in state schools. I can see many large cities becoming rental markets as more and more are unable to raise a deposit.

It already is a rental market. Only 50% of London homes are owner occupied. In my block of 6 flats, only two are owner occupied. One is an elderly gentleman who bought years ago and also our flat. It used to be 3 (so 50%) but the lady moved out when she got pregnant but she kept the flat to rent out. She bought in 2017 and she is in late 30s now.

3.5m x 2m means the bedrooms are 6'6" x 11'4" for those of us too old to work in metres.

And there don't seem to be fitted wardrobes so when you add free standing ones, you'd be down to 6'6" x 10'. That's tiny.

I lived in a temporary flat with my 2yo ds for a year, and we slept in a bedroom 7'6" x 10'. There wasn't room to swing the proverbial cat. I know people manage in tiny spaces, but do you want your life to be just 'managing'? As your child grows the flat will feel smaller and smaller.

Is it even legal? Aren't there rules on room sizes? How long has it been on the market?

I'm with your dh on this one. I grew up in a family house with a garden and being shut in that small a space would drive me crazy. You may cope but your dh has to be happy too.