5 bed 3 bath vs 4 bed 2 bath with extended downstairs

[billymean]

Assuming two houses have similar square footage, would you favour:
option 1 is a 5 bed 3 bath with larger bedrooms but a good size kitchen diner with space for a sofa that has not been extended. It could be as the garden is very large.
Option 2 is a 4 bed 2 bath but more bottom heavy with a kitchen diner living room.
Which would you go for and would you pay more for one vs the other?
Note both have already had loft conversions.

How many people live there and what ages are the kids?

Based on what you have said, I’d go for the 5 bed with larger bedrooms. If kids are little, you can do a ground floor extension for extra living space in the future.

I’d expect this to be more expensive than a 4 bed as UK houses do seem to be priced on number of bedrooms.

Depends on the area, which one is in the best location? If they're in the same area then I'd go for 5 bed..

Thanks Blue - that's useful.

I'm trying to judge which would be more appealing to buyers and what the premium might be for 5+3?

I guess that even if most people only have two kids they want a spare room and maybe an office for WFH in an ideal world.

The kitchen in the 5 bed is a dining room and kitchen knocked through so still great, but just not the whole thing lots of families seem to do with the fancy doors, extension etc.

Same road! Would you pay more for the 5bed?

I probably would because of the extra space..

You can add the extension and fancy doors if you want to later. It might be possible to add a bedroom with an extension but it’s harder to make existing bedrooms bigger.

What do you think about relative valuations then?
I'm thinking 5 percent higher for the 5 bed?

5 Bed every time

Really useful - thanks everyone so far.
I guess the price uplift percentage depends on the area of the country (even if it's a % not £ figure) so adding that this is suburban South London.

Impossible to judge without actually seeing a floor plan with dimensions.

We have a tween and a teen. The bedrooms are a lot more useful. They spend a lot of time in their rooms.

It's the layout we have got now too. 5 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms (and a downstairs toilet). No downstairs extension yet, but a conservatory. DC both have decent sized bedrooms and their own bathrooms, one of them ensuite. The remaining two bedrooms are a single and a box room. They are used as a guest room/office and an office, because both DH and I work from home. If you think people likely having the money for a bigger house will also have more ability to work from home, then having extra bedrooms are very useful. Same as having a separate dining room downstairs which I have seen many neighbours turning them into offices during my lunch time walks.

You an always add a new extension for the 5 bed you described. It has more potential overall.

For home office, you really don't want them in the communal kitchen/diner. Teens don't go to holiday and after school clubs. Working in living area (without doors) means you lose it after 3:30 and all school holidays.

An extra bedroom for an office is such a good selling point now. Or potential for an upstairs utility room (my personal #lifegoal). A ground floor extension can be done in the future if you want to; much easier than adding upstairs space.

In the five bed house is there a separate living room or is it in the kitchen diner space? That would change my decision.

When we bought our house (which is 4 bed), we also viewed a 5 bedroom one that was a similar price - the 2 smaller bedrooms were small! Our 4 bedroom house has 3 large doubles and a smaller double. We have now been here 25 years and as the DC have grown up, the size of rooms became more important.
We also extended to have an extra room downstairs. With older DCs, when they have friends round / staying over then you want to be able to keep away from them!

Yes there is a separate living room, separate small utility and study downstairs. Plenty of space but not that huge kitchen diner living room some houses have.

In that case @billymean assuming the bedrooms are of a comfortable size, and the living space is comfortable for now, but has potential to expand, I'd go for the 5 bed house.
Though, if you haven't, check what the council tax is for each as that may sway you further.