Small house City centre or move further out?

[Mirrorxx]

Hello
I am sick of going round in circles over this. We currently live 5 miles out from the city centre but yeh traffic is so bad it is taking ages to get to and from work and the the public transport seems to be getting more unreliable.
So we want to move. The 2 options are a smaller house within walking distance of both our offices or a larger house approximately 20 minutes from the centre on the tram.
It's only for the next 5 years as we would be moving for schools after this.
So which would you choose?

On the freehold point, the vast majority of housing stock in Trafford is leasehold but it's long leasehold which is completely different to short leasehold. Our house (and the 4 houses we've owned previously in and around Manchester / Lancashire) have been long leasehold (so with a 999 year lease which started to run when the houses were built in the 1930s). We pay ground rent of £4 a year (which can never change) and no other disadvantageous terms in the lease. It's not true that long leasehold causes issues or should be stressful.

Sorry I haven't replied for a few days.

I have made an appointment to see a house in sale this weekend but they are already saying it will go for offer the asking and they have 24 viewings booked in so not hopefully we would get it even if we like it