New Housing Estates -

Callistemon

Just browsing and looking at bungalows and noticed one has a bedroom size 10' 6" x 12' 12"
Is that unusual?

??Makes it a decent size I reckon *Callistemon.

Older people have always been better off than younger people. Most people start life with little in assets or income and gradually acquire them as they go.

Yes, we paid less for our houses, but that was mainly because interst rates were high and we were, as a whole not as well off as most young people are now, we also had to pay more for cars, new or second hand, electrical goods, clothes, holdiays and all the rest of the things people spend money on. I can go out today and buy a coat for very little more than I paid in 1964 when I started work.

Housing is the classic supply and demand market, house prices rise or fall to a level where the number of people who can buy a house equals the number of houses for sale.

In the past one third of the population never aspired to own houses, most of these lived in council housing, now everyone, no matter what their income expects to be able to buy property.

I am also amazed how much money people have available to spend on their houses once they have bought them. it doesn't matter how big or small a house it is, each house purchase is followed by an endless train of delivery vans bringing in new appliances, furniture and heaven knows what else followed by huge piles of carboard boxes for the dustnman to remove and then the workmen, kerbs lined with white vans for months.

Whenever we have moved house, we have had barely a penny left and in the first couple of years, all we could rise to was the odd pot of paint and/or roll of wallpaper, we certainly could not afford to gut the kitchen, gut the bathroom, landscape the garden etc etc. which I see happening so much.

A fifth of Tory party donations from property sector

Anti-corruption charity says scale of donations creates ’real risk of corruption’ as controversy over planning bill continues

Property developers were behind more than one-fifth of donations to the Conservative Party over the past decade, according to anti-corruption campaigners who say the party’s reliance on the industry risks deterring ministers from tackling the housing crisis.

Transparency International said that not only did more than 20% of individual donations come from people or organisations with interests in the property sector, but that just 10 large property-sector donations accounted for one-tenth of the party’s income between 2010 and 2020.

Joey Gardiner 12 July 2021

www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/a-fifth-of-tory-party-donations-from-property-sector/5112738.article

Gabrielle56 Your two recent posts seem to contradict each other. You sound quite thoughtful and non-judgmental in the first post but positively mean in the second.

Older people are much more likely to be better housed that the younger generation. A few years ago I had a conversation with a young professional in what is known to be a well paid occupation. He said he and his partner could only dream of having a garden and thought we were so lucky. My husband was a nurse when we first married and I worked part time for most of my working life, and yet we were able to afford to buy a reasonably nice house with a garden. I doubt that would be the case now and I agree with that young man, we are lucky and it is very unfair to lump all young people together and assume they are living the high life - many are not.

More like the young Un's want us to simply fade away so they can get their sweaty little mitts on our beautifully maintained homes.... we've worked decades and done without all the trappings of youf like new cars every 3years 3-4 hols/year designer rubbish (!) Botox fillers plastic boobs... Fake.......whatever else they pay through their their remodelled noses for.... And we do have lovely homes and yes, big gardens can be a nightmare but if feel like having it all gravelled and flagged , it's MY garden and I'll do what WE Like so stop blasting us for that too! You can have it when I'm gone and not before.i get sick of younger gens. saying we've got more than them and have had the best and left them wiv nuffin....boo hoo! No freebies here , all worked for and wasn't easy either!

For those who say there is a shortage of land, housing and all other buildings, including shops, factories, etc., occupy between 2 and 3 per cent of land in the UK. Obviously a percentage of that will not be suitable for housing but I imagine there is a fairly substantial proportion that is.

There has been a lot of criticism of builders using land on flood plains. I suspect that happens because the land is much cheaper (maybe not suitable for agriculture, etc) and there are therefore bigger profits to be made.

At most , about 10% of available land is built on in UK.nowhere else in the world are people dictated to as to what they can build and where and the listing system!?!? Bonkers! A structure may be g11 listed yet no available financial assistance is available to maintain it in the manner dictated to by its local authority.same with G1 listings. Thy would be happy seeing structures collapse rather than help to maintain it! Green belt was non existent before 1955 either. A way for the rich to stop the great unwashed getting too close. Nought to do with preserving our green and pleasant lands! Just see how some monstrous industrial sites have been plonked in rural areas, why? Because money talks..... So in all we need to stop being so hoyty toyty and for goodness' sakes start building homes for People to live in! Buying is not for everyone either so let's have some good local authority housing for those who cannot afford to buy and frankly are a bit I intimidated by the thought of a mortgage commitment with possibly less than secure employment prospects? How about it Britain? Can we stop thinking greedy profit and start thinking, helping people?

Oh yes I remember 'little boxes', seen too many housing estates that apples to.

When my sister in law recently looked round a show home at a development near her she commented on the lack of storage space and was told "Oh nowadays people don't need a lot of storage - they rent storage spaces elsewhere"
Yeah, right. A blatant admission that you've built a product not fit for purpose.

I dont see any of thesehouses being around in 150 years thrown up and poorly constructed.Stud walls, wooden frames.No rather have a proper brick built house with big rooms ,garden and off road parking.

Given how overcrowded we are already property will suffer. For some time any new estate has included blocks of flats, terraced rows some with no front garden and the semi and detached properties all as standard. The flats and houses are all a lot smaller than say what was built in the 50s. Though, the first house I bought was a 30s terrace, had 3 bedrooms, lovely front and big back garden but the rooms were tiny. So today's standards seem to be replicating the bygone days of small, densely situated property development all to deal with the demand.Britain is small in landmass and a lot of it is unsuitable for housing in comparison to other European countries but our population is comparatively high.

In the late seventies my husbands job packed up so we applied for building permission for the our land adjoining our bungalow . Refused because it was in an area of outstanding natural beauty. So we had to move to a cheaper area. Now our old house has been demolished and six houses built. So much for natural beauty.
In the next village to me they are building 200 new houses. Not affordable. Plus there are no shops, post office etc. No public transport. Very small school No work less than twelve miles away. Means at least 400 more cars.

These houses may seem small to many of you but a lot of my northern relatives grew up and then raised families in tiny back-to-back terraces with no bathroom and only an outside loo in the yard! They'd have LOVED to have the kind of houses the OP is describing!

I agree that everything’s squashed in so that more money can be made by the builders. Whether it be building bigger houses too close together or putting more smaller ones in, it all benefits the builders. Sometimes I wonder how they get planning permission. We bought our detached house 30 years ago and they should have put some smaller houses in the mix but they wouldn’t have sold at the same exorbitant prices. And don’t get me started on parking. In our cul de sac each house has 2 or 3 cars with plenty of others visiting. There is a parking bay to take 4 cars for at least 6 houses. As the driveways parking is limited, they use the parking bay which doesn’t then leave room for visitors. We are lucky in that our driveway is holding a motorhome and a car and we still have space for one visitor's car. Next door have an integral garage with room for one car outside their garage, so they park their 2nd car in the turning point, as do neighbours across in the other turning point. Sorry for going on but it makes me so angry. Builders and Councils grrr ? oh, and selfish people! ?

Or is it a question of building houses that the younger generation want to buy ....I wonder if today' s 20- 30year olds want big gardens which have to be maintained ...big rooms which have to be decorated, furnished, cleaned etc etc. Or do this generation want to keep the bills down minimum maintenance, enjoy all oftheir free time doing what they enjoy ? And demographic studies, which the builders base their projects on, show a great number of 1 or 2 person households ....yes, they might want a spare guest room, but that' s about it.

There are over a quarter of a million empty homes in England. Building on green belt land should be shelved until all empty properties are filled and brownfield sites are developed. During lockdown people have realised the benefit of being able to visit green belt land and it should be preserved for as long as possible.

The problem is also aggravated by the fact that there are 250+thousand second homes in England.

Perhaps the modern way of shortening the word “building”says it all....?

We have the smallest new houses in Europe.

The best ones to look for in an expensive area are the ex local authority 1950's house which were built to a high standard and have decent sized gardens.

However, one in my village is selling for over £600,000.

If you think that the houses are small you should look at the flats! The other problem is that some of the smaller flats have two bathrooms as well as two bedrooms, reducing the bedroom room size still further. It's interesting that quite a few ex-local authority houses are still cheaper than new estate houses but most have better sized rooms and gardens.

Exactly the same where I live. Houses that are advertised as having 5 bedrooms have one in what most home owners call the loft, so very shallow and odd shaped. Also if you go to look at these houses they usually don’t have the doors hung inside so rooms look larger. Most gardens don’t even have room for a twirly washing line - just a tiny ‘patio’ big enough for a barbecue. As you say, the standard of build is not good either.

I think the only way to stop all this is for building societies and banks to refuse mortgages. We have a huge estate built on a floodplain (the developers say they have fixed that (hmm). Most people are having problems getting insurance.

500 new detached house have been built in our village you couldn't walk between them they are so close together .They are very small inside the bedrooms are tiny but with an ensuite no storage cupboards at all but what has sprung up are a number of self storage facilities at £120 a month

M0nica i do kind of agree with you in terms of the house and number of bedrooms, i am on my own in a 3 bed and i use every room. The smallest BR is a dressing room and has storage cupboards as well. I have my BR and the largest is going to be a guest room for when and if family are able to stay over. I am in the process of having decorating, replastering and new carpets being laid so all a bit topsy turvy at the mo but hopefully once everything done it will be lovely. Its my garden which is my biggest worry. It is large and it has just cost a fortune for a tree surgeon to come and cut and reshape a 12ft out of control shrub over an archway. DH was unable to trim it for last two years due to his health and what with covid etc it just didnt get done. When DH died i knew i wouldnt be able to do the work so had no choice. I also need a new garden shed so that again will involve a lot of money as i want it relocating to a differnt part of garden so need a base, then of course the area the orignal shed is on will need sorting out!!! If i could pick up my home and relocate somewhere with a smaller garden i would. Then i would miss my lovely neighbours!!!!

Gwyneth

The problem is this small island is vastly overpopulated so sadly I can only see houses getting smaller. What is the alternative? Building on every green space available means that children have nowhere to play or people to walk and exercise.

Yes, but the green belt is getting built on with tiny houses with tiny even zero gardens.

My idea is to build on the green belt but every house must be roomy and have a garden thirty feet wide and 120 feet long.

With a neighbourhood parkland here and there.

I know the green belt, the green belt, but it is wrong to keep green belt while people do not have a decent home to live in.

Just move most of the green belt into people's gardens, it is still mostly green belt. Green belt with houses sparsley within it.

And proper tenancies too, not this can be turfed out with a month's no fault tenancy termination or only three years security at a time. People need to put down roots, plant a tree and watch it grow over the years. Not continual anxiety over where they are going to live.

Back gardens of one road against back gardens of a parallel road. That way 240 feet of garden between two rows of houses.

That way, gardens can have trees and greenery can flourish and children have safe places to play.

Impossible?

No, the estate where I grew up is like that! Built in 1950.

Quality, solid housing, built by the Council. Built in what was a field before.

Surely this country can do now what it could do in 1950.

There is a huge development being built on the edge of my town and it will effectively double the size of the town, They will have a doctors surgery and a primary school. No plans whatsoever for a new secondary school. The current one is already difficult to get into, many people are having to send their kids to out of town comps already. It’s just insane.

One cause of falls is small rooms with too much furniture, typically caused by downsizing and bringing furniture from a bigger house and people tripping over it. You need plenty of space for a Zimmer [or zimmers if there are 2 of you], wheel chairs, recliner chairs [ these take up a lot more space than an ordinary armchair because well they recline and the footrest goes up, if you have to have space for a Zimmer next to it then this is a lot of space. If you have a stairlift then you need space top and bottom to leave a Zimmer or walker.
You need space in kitchen for walker/Zimmer/somewhere to sit. You need space in the bathroom or loo for aids you need, and for someone to come and help you if need be
All these things help people with disabled youngsters or parents with young children. Even if walkers are only used outside you need space to store it without tripping over it, much like a pram
Macarthy stone does not really cater for those with extra care needs. They sell a lifestyle dream that could be achieved with suitable help elsewhere for cheaper if you have a house in good repair, you have much to pay monthly and if you have to move, or if you die, the price you or your heirs get is much less than an ordinary flat, you have to keep paying all the charges too until sold. They do not keep on the management forever either
They advertise some from 55 too so you could be locked in for 30 plus years - and such a development is aimed towards active 55 year olds, so further out of town, those for older people are nearer facilities, something to be borne in mind. Obviously if you know you have a limited lifespan than expected when you move that's different. As others have said if your family is further away putting them up can be difficult, and expensive
Having a downstairs loo at least is really helpful, and lots of houses do not have one. and can make a big difference to how long you can easily live in a place
What gets me is those programmes on tv where people are retiring to the country and go for humungous gardens and turn down houses with kitchens bigger than my house's footprint because they are cramped. Well, maybe some people don't mind moving, seems as if they do not take into account what happens as people age