Someone posted a link to this show home on Reddit

[StanfordPines]

They wanted to comment on how small it was, and I agree.
I thought I’d share.
I’d be interested to see measurements and know how much they are asking for it.

www.revolutionviewing.co.uk/persimmon-homes/generic/the-morden/1/360/v-2/index.html?fs=true

@StanfordPines

What are people expecting. It's a house designed for 3 maybe 4 people.

You think 4 people could live in there?

I agree with everything @XPuppetry said. This is a starter home. It should be affordable to people at the very beginning.

There should be regulations, as there are in many other countries, governing the minimum size of housing and houses like this should be affordable.

Yes I do!

Unless your planning an indoor gym or something why couldn't they?

You could have 2 small children but would be more cramped with teens.

Your disbelief it's a home that a family could live in says more about your attitude and not understanding differing finances than it does about the house 🙄

The house is perfect for a couple but its the prices , so people end up trapped unable to move out of them.
Its ok for those who bought years ago and the market trippled value , that should never of been allowed then we might not have so many people now struggling

I was expecting much smaller tbh. It's a 2 bed starter home. I live in a 2 bed terrace with DD which was built in the 50s and my bedroom is quite big but it's not massively bigger than this otherwise. Not keen on the downstairs WC in the kitchen but I only have one bathroom upstairs in my house.
Storage space would be a bit of a nightmare but you just need to get clever with under bed storage, shoe cabinets etc.

I posted earlier about insta accounts. There's loads with the name of this build in. I've been looking at loads. They all look beautiful. People are coming up with great ideas for storage. People are living happily in them.

There's one where the home houses a couple and their newborn.

For all the accounts I've looked at it seems the downstairs loo and the outside space is an asset. Some of the gardens are gorgeous. That outside space is an extra room for them.

Makes sense at the moment - when you have been able to meet people outside a small house with a garden is easier for many than a flat with no garden.

It's small yes. It's expensive yes but they are selling and people seem happy.

Your disbelief it's a home that a family could live in says more about your attitude and not understanding differing finances than it does about the house

That house, if the prices quoted on this thread are correct, cost more than any house I’ve owned. It would also be out of my price range. So it’s bugger all to do with differing finances and me not understanding ‘poor people’, I can’t afford that house.
As it is I’m bloody lucky that I was able to buy a house a few years ago when houses were more affordable.

Yes a family of four could get by in there but it is very far from ideal.

@BilboBercow

I was expecting much smaller tbh. It's a 2 bed starter home. I live in a 2 bed terrace with DD which was built in the 50s and my bedroom is quite big but it's not massively bigger than this otherwise. Not keen on the downstairs WC in the kitchen but I only have one bathroom upstairs in my house. Storage space would be a bit of a nightmare but you just need to get clever with under bed storage, shoe cabinets etc.

You say it’s a starter home, but what kind of starter home is unaffordable to most people who are starting out?

That's not small... you can tell you don't live in London if you think that's tiny

@StanfordPines this one is affordable...

Young couple both earning under £20k could get a mortgage for £119k with a £11k deposit.

Do-able quite young.

If it's £200k then they'd still only need to earn £25k each

Op the price of the house is dependent on location. A small starter home like this on the outskirts of say Birmingham will cost much less than one in central London.

You seem very upset, but house prices have always been location and demand dependent. Yes it was easier years ago for many. Conversely there has always been people who can’t afford to buy.

Other than the fact this is the dreaded persimmon, there is nothing wrong with the size of that propert for a small starter home.

It is a legal requirement for all new builds to have a downstairs loo these days hence them being fitted in under the stairs.

If I were to buy a similar house I would make sure there was a plastic style tall shed just outside the back door for mops, hoovers , etc. like this www.amazon.co.uk/Terry-1002716-Tall-Plastic-Broom-Cupboard/dp/B00YSNSE12/ref=sr_1_35?hvlocphy=1006598&hvnetw=g&keywords=garden+tool+storage+plastic&hvadid=422591504626&qid=1613653287&dchild=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5Kn78r7z7gIVW-3tCh0RSgVhEAAYASAAEgIT5vD_BwE&hydadcr=18479_1816595&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&tag=mumsnetforu03-21&hvtargid=kwd-331138737964&adgrpid=100738583474&hvrand=7699816591806237441&sr=8-35

@Bluntness100

The issue is that building a house this small is considered acceptable, and charging a quarter of a million is fine

Well of course it’s fine,,,there is demand,

My stepson and his wife paid £236k for exactly this house. They recently three years on sold it for £250k. It suited them perfectly until the first baby started walking.

@CorianderBee

If it's £200k then they'd still only need to earn £25k each

So more than a newly qualified teacher.

I agree Some people seem very affronted about this house It’s bizarre,! There is absolutely nothing wrong with it for a starter home, there is no money to spend on it, everything is shiny and new and I expect at the right build stage you can pick your own kitchen etc, it has a garden and it will be warm and cheap to run, for a first home it’s ideal.

@Bluntness100

Op the price of the house is dependent on location. A small starter home like this on the outskirts of say Birmingham will cost much less than one in central London.

You seem very upset, but house prices have always been location and demand dependent. Yes it was easier years ago for many. Conversely there has always been people who can’t afford to buy.

Other than the fact this is the dreaded persimmon, there is nothing wrong with the size of that propert for a small starter home.

I’m not ‘very upset’.

Ultimately I don’t have a dog in this fight. I have a house that is big enough and that I can afford. I don’t have children who are likely to be living in something like this. This house and I will not cross paths. I can forget this house and others like it even exist. I’m most certainly not ‘very angry’.

I’m angry that people assume I’m looking at this from a position of privilege or looking down my nose at people living in a house like this. That is certainly not the case.

I am however annoyed that standards are being allowed to drop and this is deemed perfectly acceptable and affordable.

As any other person I am fully aware that the price will be dependent on location. I’m not an idiot. However it depends how that price relates to other houses in the area.

@StanfordPines as a fellow occupant of a house at this end of the market, I agree with all your posts as do many on this thread. I think there been a bit of a pile on where people like to argue against you fir the sake of it, despite rational and sensible fact-pointing (I.e. developers being allowed to build shite quality to make millions).

I think there is a lot of defensiveness on this thread - people always post from a certain positionality. It's a shame, as the need to prove you wrong is clouding out the very valid points you're making.

Sadly, the obsession with 'shiny and new' to show off on Insta mean the developers will have a never ending supply of eager customers. This thread is going some way to explain their popularity! They'll be rubbing their hands with glee.

What I don't understand is once these poorly built houses lose their shiny newness, then what? Reminds me of fast fashion (another highly profitable industry that cares not a jot about people's wellbeing - in this case, their workers!).

A major reason that there are people queuing up to buy these houses is that some help to buy schemes specify new builds. People taking them up with a 5% deposit aren’t allowed to buy anything else.

Very true @VinylDetective and that is what is such a shame. As a previous poster noted, government and therefore tax payers' money is enabling these profiteers.

There is already lots of neglected and unloved older housing stock. Why money doesn't go toward regeneration and then facilitating people buying those I don't know. Perhaps someone who knows a bit more about regeneration can chip in.

Yes we need more available housing stock, but we also want to preserve greenbelt land etc, so why the sole focus on new builds rather than development of older stock to a good standard? I suppose the answer, as it always is, is money.

It is very small, is probably ridiculously overpriced & on an awfully cramped neighbourhood with no privacy that i'd personally never live near, but for what it is (A small 2 bed house designed for the 'modern' young couple who have no stuff) I really don't think it's that bad, & the space isn't badly used.