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.

When I was growing up I shared with my younger sister and my older sister had her own room. Other older sisters already.legt home. When my older sister got married and left home Mum offered me and my sister for one of us to move into the empty room but we chose not too. Were still incredibly close today. Closer to each other than to older sisters. Same sex children don't need their own room especially if it's a large room and they get on well.

I think you’re right that less families can afford bigger homes and it’s being reflected in smaller family sizes. We won’t have more than 2 as we know we can’t afford them and probably will always have a 3 bedroom house.

But unless you are Uber minimalist, everyone has things to store: a cupboard for the mop, various bits of sports kit, shoes, uniform extras. I have maybe 5-10 outfits per season (so about a week’s worth) and need either space for everything or space to store half at a time. Most double bedrooms in the uk have no additional storage (a closet) and then barely fit a bed + wardrobe and dresser. There are also things you really should have, but rarely use (toolkit, torches, power tools, , etc. that need a space. We looked at some new builds in the UK that had zero built in cupboards and minimal space for freestanding storage furniture. I am not looking for massive walk-in closets to house handbags and designer shoes - I just want to be able to store the basics rather than live in a cluttered and/or claustrophobic environment.

I agree with the post. Myself, husband and two year old live a one bed flat as it’s all we could afford to buy. My husband works full time and myself part time. A ‘family’ house of a 2 or 3 bed is something I don’t know if we’ll ever achieve. We are just so grateful for what we have and in reality it’s the perfect amount of space we need. Certainly no room for extras but I feel it’s perfectly manageable with a bit of creativity. I find it so sad to think of big old houses not being used properly. Im not jealous I just think a house should be used and enjoyed to the fullest potential. There’s so much life that could be lived in those rooms and garden yet you don’t see a soul ever, you know those kinds of holiday houses. It’s such a waste.

Most 3 bedroom houses are really only 2 decent bedrooms & a box room. It would be brilliant if builders could build homes with 3 equally sized rooms. It's the same for 4 beds, 3 proper sized rooms & a shoe box, when will builders realise that home owners want & need all bedrooms to be practical & have enough room for each bedroom to have enough room for more than just a bed & set of drawers. When I bought my house, it was one of the things that made ita home we could start a family in as all 3 bedrooms were big enough to fit a double bed & furniture, it is something that makes ex council houses so good, the amount of space & storage they have. To have bought a home that was the same size, I would have had to pay more than double the price to get a 22' × 11' living room, a 12' × 9' kitchen, a downstairs toilet, a utility room, a 14' ×11 master bedroom, a 11' & 10' second bedroom & 12' & 9' third bedroom & bathroom.

@Ourladycheesusedatum
Your experience definitely wasnt the norm in Manchester. I worked in housing in the 90s and 00s. Most children shared a bedroom. Many shared with 3 or 4 siblings. Your experience was unusual.

Where I live it's common for families to live in a one or two bedroom bedroom flat. Among friends from DC's school, I know families of 3 and 4 people in one bedroom flats and a family of five in a two bedroom flat. Those of us with teo bedrooms (2 adults, 1 child) are considered very lucky.

Anyone wanting to move to a larger home & struggling for money,look at ex council houses, they are usually well built & well insulated with loads of storage & you will pay a lot less than for an ordinary house. Ones like my old one are selling for £130k & you would have to pay £300k+ for an ordinary private 3 bed with a lot less space.

Exactly. People who aren't wealthy people have always had to live like this.

What part of the country is this, out of interest?

I'm in a 4 bed shared ownership social housing. 2 boys (now 18 and 21) and 1 girl (14) - 21 y/o is autistic and increasingly difficult to live with and I needed a 4 bed as it was inappropriate for any of them to share but I'm going to have to downsize at some point and no idea how I'll manage as 21y/o has significant issues and I know I can't afford what we've got forever. But what do you do? I have to house them and private rent was 3-400 a month more.

I honestly didn't know one family with an ensuite back in the 80s or early 90s and I'm from a middle class area. I think my auntie was the first to have an ensuite when she bought a new build in around '96.

And as for the rooms all of my childhood friends shared unless they had siblings of a different gender. Even my sister and I shared and we had 3 bedrooms but one was kept for guests. We didn't have separate rooms until we had an extension built in the late '90s.

I grew up in the 90's and shared a bedroom with DS. No one thought anything of it. Thinking back around half my friends probably shared a room. I grew up in a victorian house, those who didnt share had new builds. Their house had more rooms but my house was probably bigger. The bedroom I shared was huge. Im not saying you couldn't do it but two kids sharing in a new build isnt the same. I dont remember knowing anyone with an ensuite as a child.

I also didnt no anyone with a spare bedroom when u grew up in the 90s. Now, i dont no anyone who doesnt have one. Partly driven by people moving further from their family for work potentially but it was unheard of when i was young.

The birth rate is already declining, and this sort of thing will only accelerate it. It's not just the cost of housing, it's childcare, clothes, food, and all the rest of it.

I'm in my 30s. Good job we never intended to have children as we've put a lodger in the spare room and the money has been very useful; a baby would mean losing the lodger income and having all the usual expenses on top.

In our immediate social circles, 5 are adamantly childfree, 3 have never really talked about it and I can't envisage them parenting anyway, 2 are fence sitters, 2 have vague future intentions to procreate and only 2 are keen. It's an unremarkable group from a demographic point of view; not career high fliers nor poverty stricken. High housing costs and suchlike is only going to push people towards having no or fewer children.

Absolutely did not say anything like what you have quoted ! . I didn't have a very good upbringing and have lived in a tiny box of a house actually and at one point in a caravan on someone's sodding driveway ,oh yeah that felt really privileged !!!! so i have worked my bloody tits off so me and my family never had ever live that way again. OK !

Well I'm happy with my house and I'm allowed to say so !!

It's the towns and cities were the decent jobs are though! It's often only low paid retail/hospitality work in more rural areas. Not easy to live in a lower cost rural or run down area when you have a 2 hour commute (or longer) to the nearest city where the decent jobs are located!

@IBetGordonRamsayDoesntHaveTheseProblems

High housing costs and suchlike is only going to push people towards having no or fewer children.

But it won't stop Wayne and Waynetta popping out a few extra sprogs between watching daytime TV and drinking copious amounts of lager.

Fully agree. Our house has three small storage cupboards (about 3 feet square) and it's one of the reasons we love the house and havn't moved. As you say, you need somewhere to store your vacuum, clothes airer, ironing board which we use the understairs cupboard for. We also have a cupboard by the front door for coats, shoes, etc. And an upstairs cupboard we use to store bedding, duvets, etc. The house, otherwise, is actually pretty small, only room for a small wardrobe in each bedroom (so no space for bedding, duvets etc), and kitchen is small and only just fits in the white goods and cabinets, so no room in there for ironing board, vacuum, etc. We've often looked at houses for sale, new and older, and it's always the lack of storage that puts us off - when we think of the practicalities of where we'd put stuff, there simply isn't anywhere. Eg in some, there's literally nowhere to put long term storage like suitcases, christmas tree/decorations, etc. And no, it's not "overconsumption" - I wouldn't say having a vacuum, airer and ironing board is a sign of "overconsumption" and I'd hate to have things like that just lying around on open view in the lounge! We're actually pretty minimalistic and don't buy things we don't need, but I just like things put away!

I’m referring to when interest rates started to fall seriously, and we’re at an historic prescedent for over 10 years at below 3%. That’s very unusual if you look at historic trends going back to 1880s.
im talking cycles of decade, not cycling form year to year. Like stock market economics is a sluggish trend that takes 10-15 year shifts.

I grew up in the 60s/70s in a three bedroom one bathroom house which if it were demolished today would be replaced with a five bedroom house with en-suites. Huge hall and landing, big rooms with huge windows which made it lovely and airy but which would be considered wasted space today.

https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/1485/interest-rates/historical-real-interest-rate/

Sorry to single you out but unless you are both 100k earners , this is a perfect example of why people can’t afford their mortgage rate rises. How is a 3 bed house a “smaller house” ? And unless you’re a high income family , why do you need a 4 bedroom house next ? Obviously your house size it’s entirely your choice and none of my business but this is a great example of how we’ve all screwed our selves over by our own greed and the banks willingness to let us buy houses we cannot afford.

But your making vast assumptions here. I bought a spacious 3 bed in Hampshire bordering Surrey that I extended out to 5 five bedrooms. We have 4 comfortable doubles and I didn't extend over the garage side. Our income is £29,000.

Want to guess how we got a five bed detached house on 29k income?

There are so many possibilities of where the money came from you couldn't possibly guess correctly