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.

The only developed countries that have fewer square feet per person than the UK are Italy, Hong Kong and Russia

Japan? South Korea?
Given Russia is middle income, other middle income places that might have small room per person on avg, could be ... China? UK comes out as very middle on this chart.

This is true. Owner occupancy is dropping year on year while private sector renting is increasing. We're moving back now to how we were pre-wwII in terms of ownership ie we are moving back to being a rentier economy. Except less regulated than we were pre-1939.

Lemme guess - Cambridge? Oxford?

I don't really like the idea of children sharing bedrooms either (unless much younger) but I think all children deserve some alone space or peace away from their siblings. I would've hated being stuck in the same bedroom with my sister- different if they really get on but why not give them a space that's theirs

This will be a temporary issues

in 80s and early 90s interest rates were up to 17% and for a long time double figures. Interest rates didn’t come down to below 4% till 2008. That just about 10 years of exceptionally low rates.
yes, houses cost more now, and hopefully this will drive values down somewhat as they did in 1990s, but, as a sufferer of negative equity and taking loss on sale, it’s painful at time.
the issue is that this pain will cause house repossessions, drive people off property ladder and make people loose money on houses. It’s pants. But not actually new, it happened in past multiple times.

eventually rates settle, prices settle, inflation comes down and people crawl back to where they can buy a sizeable property again.

yes it’s shit

but no, it will not be the “end” of people buying bigger houses. It’s just a temporary effect now and will change again by 10 years time. Economics goes in cycles and always will.

Children sharing bedrooms isn't going to solve the problems within the UK housing and house building market anyway. The fundamental problem is that it doesn't fit the needs of the population. Children sharing bedrooms does nothing to address that.

Economics goes in cycles and always will

@Appleofmyeye2023 when was the up cycle after 08?

I'd never even heard of an en suite until I was a teenager. We all shared, Jesus we didn't even have central heating until I was 13 and I'm only 36 now.

All my friends shared, it was very typical.

The idea of all kids having their own room was definitely coming from a privileged position.

Very middle class idea IME.

Exactly!!!!

Need some advice. I have a neighbor with an extremely loud talking voice. He talks on the phone and to his family so loud I can hear every word. Now it's summer and his mega phone voice reverberates all around the row of houses we are in. He has also built a decking area which now allows him to look over into the 2 neighboring gardens. We have 6ft fences! I have to turn my TV up otherwise all I can hear is his voice. We exchange small talk and I have already asked for the noise to be kept down. He has an overbearing nature and I have heard him boasting about how tough he thinks he is. How can I broach the subject of telling him myself and the other neighbor have had enough? It is making our nerves bad.

I was a child in the 70s and 80s, and most of my friends and cousins shared bedrooms with their siblings. Not unusual to have three sharing a bedroom
AFAIK nobody had more than one bathroom or more than one phone.
Not many had more than one telly.

You need to start your own thread

In many cultures the homes for ordinary folk have two or three bedrooms. It is nothing out of the norm. Two kids and two adults will always find a way to be a happy family

lol, before someone telling me i don't have imagination and my two kids family is a cliche, i do not state how many kids I have.

Hmm, growing up in the 80s my experience was different. Don't remember any friends sharing and most houses had en suites, though no the tiny ones you see squeezed in nowadays. I don't know which experience was more typical

l grew up in a posh area in the 80’s. No one had en suites. They might have had more than one bathroom, but no en-suites.

If families get even smaller, and they're already quite low historically, we'll be up shit creek economically. We have an aging population, and those of working age need to pay for the pensions and healthcare if the old. It doesn't matter how much retirees have contributed throughout their lives, if their needs are funded by the state, the funds come from taxpayers, so predominantly workers. I've already resigned myself to the assumption that precisely because birth rates are falling, that there won't be sufficient workers to retirees when I retire to fund my state pension, so I likely won't get one. If the birth rates fall even further, I don't suppose there'll be free healthcare either....

We took out our first mortgage before the financial crisis of 2008 at 6.5%, 3 bedrooms (2 small doubles and a box room). It cost £315,000 and our joint income was about £70k. We took a lodger to help us pay the bills.

I realise there are other expensive things now like student debt but I don’t quite understand why it is so much harder to afford mortgage repayments today than in 2007. What am I missing?

In 2007, our nextdoor neighbour bought for £525k. In 2016 they sold for £950k. That's why.

I grew up in the 80s. We had a four bed, my parents, dbro and me. Dh is one of 4dc and they had a 3 bed, the three boys shared. That’s what they had and they just got on with it. But dh always said he didn’t want our dc to have to share a room. We’ve got a small four bed, 3 dc, so they don’t have to share and luckily, we’ve had it long enough to have paid of the mortgage.

but, I’ve noticed a lot of the new developments (of which there are a lot in our town) are building big 4 and 5 bedroom ‘executive’ homes. There is a small nod to smaller terrace houses 2/3 bed, but no where near what I consider enough for the demand that I’m sure there must be and I don’t consider the 3 beds big enough for a family of four to live in (friend lives in one, 3 storey, 3 bed, so bedrooms are big enough and she has 3 toilets, but the kitchen and living space is tiny and there’s not even enough room for a table to fit 4 round comfortably). I have no idea who is buying all these big 4/5 bed houses for £450,000!

There's 5 of us in a 3 bed. No plans to move. I'm not of the opinion that kids "need" their own rooms, and I think having a single living space is good for families. Teaches tolerance and builds a close family unit.
My DH grew up with 9 people in 2 rooms (not bedrooms, just 2 rooms). Whilst not ideal of course, did none of them any harm.
People with kids can't afford big houses. Only people I know in big houses are retired or child free.

My friend grew up in a 2 bed and shared a room with her 2 elder sisters, i shared with brother who was 10 years older than me for a year. Most of my friends shared.

I think it’s because you bought your house for £315,000 at 6.5% and now the same house costs say £450,000, although at the same interest rate, buying now, you are paying interest on a lot more capital that you have had to borrow. I’m not sure I’ve explained that very well though.

It's regional for sure. I know plenty of three beds with 4+ kids squeezed in with the adults. It doesn't seem to do them any harm. The kids are empathetic, aware of how their behaviour effects others and are usually very family focused.

We moved to a very cheap area and bought a two bed terraced house outright.

Three ds have the bedrooms and dh and I sleep in the living room.

It is great - it is an old fashioned working class area and the kids all play out.

I grew up in a full bed detached now worth a million. I had a horrible childhood and am no contact with my family.

We don't need a big house. We need love and happiness and each other.