To think it will soon become more normal for families to live in smaller houses

[flipflopfloop]

With the recent rates increasing, borrowing costs are so high now that it would be at least 1200pcm in repayments for a small 2 bed house around here and it’s a relatively cheap area of the country. If not higher than this. Surely this will mean the days of having more bedrooms than people are numbered, and more and more families will have to make do with smaller living space - possibly leading to smaller family sizes even. I personally don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. They are building lots of new developments on the outskirts of our city with prices starting from 350 for a 2 bed. A 4 bed home with three useable bedrooms there is easily 450-500. I find it interesting to wonder who will occupy these as presumably they are not yet sold and you would have to have at least a 6 figure household income to be able to afford this.

we are fucked because of this

Oh god yes, absolutely.

It was normal to bring up families of 6,7,8 in total in a 3 bed (2+box room) certainly my parents grew up in very small houses despite having 3 siblings

This wasn't a few yrs ago though!

Obviously I meant buying a five bedroom house as your first purchase is a privilege, perhaps I should have been clearer. But surely you know that.

That’s not a cheap area of the country, sorry.
Around here a 4 bed detached is only £300k not needing much work.

Rather than reassess how much space people need, maybe people need to move to cheaper areas.

Most home owners don't or didn't wait until they had childcare and cars and outgoings to go on the property ladder.

There's a reason behind the trend of mothers (and fathers) having children later in life.

Of course it's still difficult for first time buyers but waiting until you have children and complaining about the cost of living is stupid.

It’s 42 square meters per person in Sweden. Quite a big difference.

@Craftsandgardens yeah USA houses are fucking enormous in comparison. And so much more user friendly. Laundry rooms! How cool would it be to have an entire space tucked away from all the rest of your living area where you can keep the house ticking over with clean clothes, bedding, towels etc?

But they have been getting progressively smaller. Affordability & house prices are defo part of the reasons why.

Families have been getting smaller largely through choice and education, developed countries have fewer children because they have the means to keep families small and the desire to, we don't need hoards of children to look after us or risk losing them in high numbers. and we have higher expectations on our lifestyles that people are prioritising over family size, you make it sound like families have no choice, but I think it is a choice many families are making positively.

Of course it's still difficult for first time buyers but waiting until you have children and complaining about the cost of living is stupid.

🙄

No kids I knew in the 80s didn't share, often with two or more siblings. Big families, small houses.

Brill, but suggest how anyone’s getting on the ladder when rates are pushing 6% with current house values? Buy a starter property? Can’t, as they’ve all either been snapped up or prices will fall and you’ll land yourself in a position where you owe the bank more than you’ve borrowed so can only go onto your lenders standard variable rate at the end of the term. On a property that’s too small for you.

This is why I won't have a third I would so dearly love to have!

(To be clear, laundry in itself doesn't excite me but the thought of living in a house where I'm not constantly falling over fucking clothes horses as I go about my daily business does make me envious.)

I don’t know anyone who shared a room growing up.
however, now living in London, lots of families seem to be in 2 bed flats, and all needing to move as kids are getting older.
The problem with English houses is that a lot of the rooms are tiny, and often there there is little storage

@yut I'm not sure you are reading my posts correctly. I've not said education doesn't decrease birth rates. I've not said we need hoards of children. I simply said that the cost of housing/living/childcare is one of the reasons for falling birth rates...

70s child.

Can't think of any friends who shared a bedroom. Most people came from two or three child families.

Most of us live in smaller houses now than we grew up in while our parents still rattle around in our former family homes most of which are four or five bedroom places!

There were fewer bathrooms in my childhood though. Downstairs loo and family bath was normal. Ensuite too was "posh". If a bungalow there wouldn't be a separate downstairs loo. Visitors would use the main family bathroom which was usually located downstairs.

at the idea of £290k being a cheap area. I'd expect a lot of house and garden for that. You'd be looking at under £100k for a 3 bed house on my street. Small yard rather than garden and not very leafy and suburban but people can still buy something here.

@Nevermind31 yep, especially wrt storage. New builds in particular are atrocious for this. Those places look great if you're a 25 year old guy and all you own is a futon and a games console but they soon get claustrophobic when you add in toys/clothes/Xmas decorations/Halloween decorations/books/tables big enough for more than one person to sit and eat at etc.

Exactly. Rooms are tiny and they just squeeze in number of bedrooms instead of making the rooms properly liveable.

I grew up in Germany and we had lots of more storage space as well.

Growing up in the 90s I did know people who shared rooms but it wasn't seen as aspirational if that makes sense. En suites were more unusual and just for "rich people"

Well that isn’t ‘policy’ so don’t be ridiculous.

until you have children, a property is not "too small for you", that's the point.

@WhatNoRaisins Well now we've got en suites. But you'd still struggle to fit a bed, wardrobe and chest of drawers into a lot of new build bedrooms. And bugger off having a desk in there as well.