Do you think energy bills will impact demand for bigger homes?

[jellywobble22]

Just had my Gas & Electric come through for November and I am paying 50% more than I was last year even though I have been much more frugal with usage.

Do people think that the impact of higher energy bills will impact demand for bigger homes which naturally cost more to heat? Will this lead to people wanting to downsize (as opposed to upsizing we saw amidst C19 which led to detached house price growth outpacing semis / terraces)? Also will people put more emphasis on EPC ratings?

It has for us. We were looking at moving to a detached and restart a mortgage again but due to everything going up we are staying put in our 2 bed semi and making improvements instead. Using the savings we had for a deposit/fees to change windows, carpets and a few others things - also made myself an office space under the stairs so have somewhere to work now as permanently wfh now.

Quite possibly. Suspect the trend for open plan living will also be reversed. Much easier and cheaper to heat smaller, individual spaces as they are needed. Wfh may also look less appealing if predicted price rises occur.

I think so. We prefer older properties but would now look at a newer, better insulated house!

I think so too. As a Rightmove stalker I look at some houses that are beautiful but all I think now is 'crikey imagine heating that'. Where I love, the local housing stock is mainly Georgian and Victorian but most Grade 2 listed or under conservation area which puts huge limitations on what you can do unless you have a ton of money to throw at them. They look lovely but you can keep your draughty windows and floorboards thanks.

*live

My friend is doing the exact same - staying put, she did the maths and the enlarged mortgage (notwithstanding where interest rates are now) and estimated heating bills / council tax etc. would be doubling her 'fixed' outgoings every month which feels a lot for the sake of an extra bedroom / bigger garden.

I dont know about size as thats partly based on family size and if you work at home. But i do think older properties will look a lot less appealing.

Around here, those with big, expensive houses seem to be completely unaffected by the crisis. Our neighbours are still walking round the house in shorts and t shirts (pjs) and going on several holidays/weekends away.

I follow an equestrian property/small holdings page, and things seem to still be selling well.

So perhaps it’s the middle level that will be affected?

I don't think someone would move just for that reason as the costs of moving are so high (stamp duty, conveyancing, removals etc are often tens of thousands).

But if someone was planning to move anyway then it could affect their decision - choosing well-insulated houses that are cheaper to run. Or have smaller rooms rather than open-plan.

We always said we'd look to move this year when our Mortage rate was up. Luckily it was up in may and we decided to stay put and improve our current home. I'm so glad we did. I have a number of friends who have done the same.

Clearly mean mortgage 🤦🏼‍♀️

I don't think size will be the factor. People who can afford large houses generally aren't struggling to pay rising energy costs...!

It will be the Victorian/Georgian end of the market that should see a price correction as they cost so much more to heat.

Usually popular with FTBs (who usually have no clue what it costs to run a home) so it will be interesting to see if the price correction does come.

I suspect it won't

I imagine it would, as the cost of living and less spare £££, means that people will be more inclined to take maintenance costs into consideration when buying a house.
I think the size of the house is less important than how it’s made up. A large modernised detached house, meeting current building regs re U-values, it’s likely to be more attractive than even a smaller Victorian property, where there are limits as to how much you can address the heat loss.
We’ve moved to an older bigger house now, in our previous newbuild timber framed house, even 30 minutes of the heating being on was sufficient to warm all the rooms, and they stayed warm for a long time. That’s not the case now, and the heating has to stay on for longer to maintain the same level of comfort. That’s a separate issue from the size of the house.

@jellywobble22 it’s just not worth it for us now. new builds are out- even though they are better insulated, the prices with the new mortgage rates are extortionate. We are in a very fortunate position to have paid off our mortgage in 2020 and the plan was to get a 3 bed at some point and we have been saving the money we used to pay for a mortgage towards moving . We have one teen who is 16 now and no more kids planned and apart from needing extra office space we really don’t need to move. I love the area where I live and my home is cozy and a decent size for 2 bed. We put a conservatory on 17 years ago and use it a lot in spring/summer time. Now that I have made myself an office with an actual door so I can close myself in, I don’t see any need to move. Just going to make it a nicer home and improve a lot of things that have aged with the house

I think it will affect sales, of course it will. I'm glad we're not trying to sell.

Our gas and electricity bill was £300 for 8 days when we had the heating on during the snow. Our house is old and uninsulated with draughty windows and floorboards and it's a money pit. Without any heating on and with hardly any lights on it was £200 a month, that's the lowest we could get it. We are expecting to pay about £2k in gas and elec in December as we'll have the hearting on because visitors.

We are very relieved that we downsized in 2021, our utilities were very expensive then, dread to think what it would cost now.

I suppose age might be more of a factor. Our house is larger than average but as it's a new build it's energy efficient. We pay about £200 a month for gas and elec (not including the £67 rebate) for the 4 of us and that is mostly electricity use as we have every gadget going and a dryer.

I don't think people that are well off to afford to run large houses are completely unaffected / unimpacted - I know someone who is looking at an extra interest bill of £1k a month when they refinance (took on a 2 year mortgage on a much bigger property during 2020 in the stamp duty cut period) - even if you are on say 6 figures it is a meaningful amount extra to be going out every month..

We are a bit concerned about this as we're trying to sell our larger 5 bed house at the moment and downsize. It's not an older property but the lounge and kitchen are especially difficult to heat. At the moment the market has stopped around here - not too unexpected, but I'm really hoping we can sell next year!

My son has just bought a flat and the main reason he bought it is because it’s very energy efficient heating wise

it has wet underfloor heating that’s incredibly cheap to heat as the building has its own heat ground source via biomass pumps - or something like that it was designed to be as energy efficient as possible

in the recent cold spell it’s cost him around £10 a week to keep the heating on 24/7 at 19 -20 degrees using the wet underfloor heating & because the flat is so well insulated its bloody tropical inside

Im almost tempted to sell up and buy an apartment in his building I don’t think he would like me living that close

I wouldn’t compromise on detached, but I’d definitely be looking for the more energy efficient properties.

There was a listed property we looked at in early Covid (totally not our style, but massive for the price presumably due to the restrictions/cost of repairs) and I shudder at even thinking how much the bills would have been for that.

Again with WFH, it’s annoying having to pay more than we’d planned in utilities but it’s more than offset in travel costs we no longer have.

Basically, we’re sucking up all the extra costs willingly and wouldn’t swap our large detached house for anything (we’re just working out how to fund energy efficient solutions for next year).

I would think so... I was considering downsizing in my early 60s but might do it sooner.
Living in a detached house with the downstairs open plan with a back wall that is mostly glass was fab when heating was cheap, giving a lovely view of the garden.

Thermostat is now set to 18c - 0645-0915 & 1730-2000.
It's all beautifully insulated, nice thick thermal curtains, etc.
It's lovely when the heating is on & bloody freezing within an hour of it going off. I've fashioned a cosy zone downstairs around the tv & it stays warm up until 10-11pm with a blanket & hot water bottle.
During that cold spell, if I was at home, after lunch I'd head upstairs into my room as it was the warmest room in the house.

My 2-year fix ended in May 2022 - I was paying 3p/KWH for gas. Now it's 10p/kWh.
Last winter I paid £100 DD & ended my fix with 49p in credit!
I've budgeted for £300/month but if there are more cold spells then that'll go out the window.
When I set up the fix back in May 2020, I had the chance to go for 3 years at 4.5p/kWh. I remember thinking that was too expensive. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I think the great divide may be between newer versus period properties. Yes, high ceilings provide a feeling of space, that's because it is space - it's just unusable space you have to heat but can't do anything with.

I also think open plan will go. We had plans to knock through our kitchen/living room but not any more.

It impacted demand around here, even 3 months ago.