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.

I'm moving to a 2 bed and pregnant with my second child and stopping at 2. It'll have to do for now.

My area is cheap enough but stuff isn't selling

2 bed house 130k
2 bed apartment 115k (this won't sell because of the management fees, we pay £160pm)

May I ask, why is it so engrained that each child should have their bedroom (I mean even if they are a compatible age/gender) ? Is it about teaching children independence? Is it considered to be poor if kids share? I'm asking because my dh is from Spain, and his family were, let's say upper class, had 4 bedrooms plus, but he shared with his two siblings, because they just liked it that way.

@Kazzyhoward those are shocking numbers. It just seems so unfair to do the right things and it not pay off.

Well done though to your son for getting the graduate placement! They are really competitive so he should be proud to have the place.

It'd probably be worth him speaking to the recruitment team at the company to see if there is an internal staff noticeboard where he could ask about renting a room on. I know a few people who have moved cities and found initial accommodation from a work colleague.

I agree with this.
I recently looked at a penthouse flat. Lovely , all mod cons, fantastic area.
But the 3rd bedroom had absolutely no storage. At all. You may have been able to squeeze in a small set of drawers if you got a small bed.

Stupid in my opinion. I would have bought it but for that tiny room.
Probably the whole flat would have been ok for a couple, no children or only one child. With that tiny room as a home office.

There is very much a divide related to housing costs.
Borrowing 290k - so buying a house over 300k, that needs work, puts the house value above the average of around 285k.

250k would buy you a 4 bed detached round me. 125k would get you a 3 bed semi where I used to live - ok, street parking, but it was walking distance to a lovely high street, and I never had any issues. At the time we moved, the secondary school was dire, but it has been completely turned around, and is now outstanding.

Interesting to read this thread. I don't know a single family where the children share a bedroom. I didn't know anyone when I was at school in the 70s and 80s either. However, when I was a child, people started off in small houses and worked their way up (my parents started off in a two-bed new build, and ended up in a six-bed former rectory). People seem to have started to expect their first house to be bigger than in previous generations, so they may have to adjust their expectations a bit to the way they used to be.

I do think it’s daft that social housing aims to provide separate rooms for children of different sexes in a family when many middle earners don’t have that luxury.

Many, many teenagers in social housing share with siblings of the opposite sex. There is a huge shortage of social housing so nowhere for families to move to as children grow. Millions live in cramped conditions while they sit for years on waiting lists.

It may be an "aim" to have separate rooms for children of different sexes in social housing but the reality is very, very different. And I'm not sure about using the word "luxury" in relation to social housing policy.

People seem to have started to expect their first house to be bigger than in previous generations, so they may have to adjust their expectations a bit to the way they used to be.

Do you not think the increase of FTBs ages has something to do with it. Certainly the average family today won't end up in a 6 bed.

I think in a lot of other countries apartment living for families is seen as normal. I’ve lived a few counties in Asia and in Europe and large 3/4 bed apartments are common place.

i have actually done something like this. Previous owners put a shower in the bedroom cupboard.
it was also the only shower in the house, so I put a shower in over the bath and took the shower out of the cupboard. Now I have a nice big storage cupboard in the bedroom instead of strange shower.

I knew plenty of siblings who shared growing up in the 80s and 90s.

In fact even now I know siblings who share including some who can have their own bedrooms.

Yes. The key word here is "large" though. I've also lived in nice big apartments in Europe (and South America as it goes). They were all well ventilated, they all had a balcony, they all had good insulation and the rooms were decent sized.

I've never seen a UK apartment that's ticked all of those boxes. Plus in the UK crucially we have this freehold/leasehold madness, where leaseholders can be compelled to pony up vast sums of money at the drop of a hat. Other countries with different class systems and different property ownership systems, this isn't an issue.

You have the money, cos you don't have Children. No offence.

We live in a two bed plus small box room house - and this was one of the reasons we stuck at one child 20 years ago - although on paper we could have afforded a bigger house we decided to stay with what was affordable with one salary (if the need be) and haven't regretted it .

I think there will always be people who are high enough earners to be able to afford larger properties (4, 5 bed) without worrying .

You're thinking about it back asswards, with respect.

House prices aren't driven by wages but by interest in buying housing. In an economy where money is worth less with each passing year (ie the UK since 2008 because that's when we started printing money and also simultaneously froze wages) anybody who does have money needs to park it somewhere it will grow. So, they buy assets. Assets are gold, antiques, artefacts and real estate.

OP I would imagine these houses are being bought by people planning to upsize and honestly its more than realistic to buy that house, just do it before having kids.

We just bought a 5 bed for 400, just me and husband and our pets, we upsized and it is our forever home. I think the key is that we didnt have kids (so not as many outgoings & were able to save a good deposit) we are also slightly older eg I'm 32 and husband is 40 and we def don't earn 6figures. We got zero help from family it's all our own saved money, and we still do hobbies, go out, have holidays etc. We don't (anymore) have commuting costs but they were huge for a while and we live in a quieter cheaper part of the uk but it's worth it.

But for a young couples with 3 kids no it's not generally affordable but my attitude is sort finances first before having kids.

It’s threads like this that makes me happy I live in the North East. The sea is 5 minutes walk away, moors and stunning countryside 20-30 minute drive on usually empty roads and our large 4-bed house is worth around £180,000. Our mortgage is less than £600 a month. I did live in South London in a 2-bed maisonette which was tiny and now costs around £320,000. Give me my current life any time - but I do feel for all of those struggling to buy elsewhere as it must be so hard

Trouble is the cost of moving is so high that the traditional starting off small and then trading up, is now financially prohibitive. People need to stretch themselves for that first home as they may be stuck in it for a long time.

I have a 4 bed with 4 kids and the three oldest kids choose to share one bedroom. They seem very happy with the arrangement! In fact I’m just waiting for the littlest one to decide that he wants in…

I’m sure it will change as they get older but for now it works just fine & I don’t think it would cross their minds to think it was overcrowded, to them it’s just fun 😅

I really don’t agree with this. I think people expect their first house to be much smaller than in previous generations. In fact, most younger people I know don’t expect to ever own a house, or even a flat.

Are you not mostly assuming people are living in towns and cities though? I think more people will realise that there isn’t as much of an advantage to living in expensive houses in a city or near one when you can live rurally and get a cheaper house

Ps do kids really have a room to themselves nowadays? Everyone I know have kids that share!!!

Agree . We love a large home , love the space and have rooms for everything we need and a large garden . Could never live in a small home .