The price of bungalows

[Chowtime]

Has anyone else noticed the price of bungalows has increased much more than the price of houses recently?

Call me synical but does the fact that we have a large proportion of the population about to enter retirement age have anything to do with this.

£650k for a 2 bed new build bungalow here in West Midlands. Would have been £350 last year.

I'm looking for myself, I want to downsize from the big 4 bedroom detached family home into something smaller to accommodate my increasing age (i'm 59 now so future planning) but the houses that i'd need cost more than my current home!

What a mess the housing situation in this country is. No wonder not enough people downsize.

Most houses in this country are not single storey, which is why the distinction is made.

Everybody needs a bungalow, when really a ground floor flat will cover their needs

Bungalows have always been more expensive and fewer are being built compared to houses now. The alternative for those with major mobility issues is a ground floor flat, but you generally have to go through two sets of doors to get into them. Your mobility scooter often doesn't fit anywhere that is close enough to the front door either.

I don't love the idea of having a starlift. Trying to find a small house where you can just live in the ground floor, without a lot of money, is also hard and it seems a shame to keep families out of them.

Yes, this.

I'm always surprised when people express surprise that bungalows are expensive. Why wouldn't they be?

They are generally on much larger plots, they have very flexible room layouts, they are good for those who want to live all on the level, yet often have scope for rooms upstairs if desired.

Why wouldn't they be expensive?

You want one, so you must understand that others want them too.

And yes, also supply and demand dictates they will command a premium.

Very few bungalows are built these days due to the plot size required, meaning demand will always be high.

Why do you need to be old to live in a bungalow?

Yes, I don't understand the reason for this either.

It’s just what they are called here. A bungalow is one storey and a house, unless otherwise stated, is probably two storey. A townhouse is probably 3 storeys.

Could you look at Park home sites. Not for everyone but I've seen some lovely 2-3 bedroomed ones recently and honestly once inside you would not know it wasn't a normal home. You do have to consider site fees though.

We will do the same get a stairlift.

a friend of mine has lived in a bungalow for the last dozen years and now has bungalow knee! It’s a thing 😱

I don't agree bungalows have always cost more. In some areas they havent. But they have got more expensive in recent years. The reasons are more older people with money to spend. They often have bigger gardens and not many new ones are being built.

I love my bungalow. Lots of garden , no neighbours and I find it very child friendly for Ds . Over the last year 3 different builders have knocked on the door to ask if we are selling . I assume to build at least 3 town houses on the plot .

It might be worth looking at modern(ish) town houses too. The one we lived in for a while had evidently been designed so you could live totally on the ground floor if necessary - kitchen/diner, bathroom and a bedroom all on that level. One of the neighbours was already doing this as his wife used a wheelchair and they didn't have a stair lift.

I did think it might be a bit odd if there was no one to use the floors above that though. And it was a nightmare for a family with young children with bedrooms spread over multiple floors.

Most houses in this country are two or three storeys. But on the odd occasion you see a four or five storey house, you simply call it a four or five storey house. It doesn't become "not a house" just because it has an unusual number of storeys.

According to the gem that is wikipedia a bungalow is "a small house or cottage that is single-storey, sometimes with a smaller upper storey set in the roof and windows that come out from the roof, and may be surrounded by wide verandas". So a type of house.

But more interestingly (and less pedantically) they mention that bungalows are more expensive to build not only because of the size of plot, but also because the same amount of foundation and roof gets you a smaller amount of living space.

We live on the south east coast and lots being built here. Just looked up the little new build street that was built some years ago, in 2020, they all went for around 330k, one is now on for sale at 375k, there are literally 4 rooms, 2 bed rooms, a kitchen and a lounge. No utility, no garage. Small garden

There have been a couple built that Ive seen over recent years in peoples back gardens/spare land sort of thing.

Generally though I have never seen a bungalow with a good layout. Its either sleeping at the front (and of course its downstairs) or sleeping at the back with the way out to the garden being through one of the bderooms (or a conservatory stuck on the back of a bedroom)

Having said that, I'll probably end up in one!

Yes, we tend to think of houses having two or more storeys.

A flat has noise from the flat above.

One storey houses are referred to as bungalows here. Which are a type of house. Its just the way they are referred to, to distinguish them from the more usual 2+ storey houses and have been for many years.

Because I have teenagers and being on the same level as them day in, day out would be a nightmare 😂

I've only had time wasters on my gorgeous new build one in Scotland - where are all these desperate buyers? 😂

Personally I wouldnt want a leasehold property

@soupfiend that's my father in laws big objection plus service charges he can't control- we've mentioned shared freehold in conversions- but as he says 'what if you get a really tight person sharing freehold' and end up arguing about painting outside etc! So bungalows it is

Hes absolutely right

Many people won't want to downgrade to a flat if they're used to living in a house. I certainly wouldn't, unless it was the only option.

I am buying a very small 2 bed bungalow. It was on the market for 9 months and they reduced the price by 105k.

however the identical one next door went for 175k more than I’m paying in 2021 so clearly there was an expectation of ridiculous prices.

it is accessible by a set of steps so not sure if they are so much for disabled people though…

I actually didn’t particularly want a bungalow but it was the only freehold property in my price range inside the m25!