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Great graphic this. Shows that the pokiest little new homes are built in the UK. Spanish new builds are rather generous by comparison.
They are sold as luxury properties with not enough space for a broom cupboard. If one does not buy a telescopic broom that can be kept underneath the sink.Then it gets proudly displayed along the shrinking IKEA furniture.
Planning laws mean UK new builds tend to be in urban areas where space is at a premium. In Spain you can happily build an entire city in the middle of nowhere (regardless of whether anybody actually wants to live there)
Most large developers in the UK build homes you can’t swing a cat in, master bedrooms that are the size of early box rooms, however, how would the general build quality compare in both countries?
Angie, what will animal lovers think of your postings !!!!!
shakeel you’re quite right, unless you or anyone knows that expression ‘can’t swing a cat’, it could look bad, however it’s a very British saying.
😆
Angie, you forgot another one ” skin a cat “. Some times ago I did a TV program for Anglia TV on property investment in Morocco. One of the properties that we looked at had a very small sized bedroom. I commented that it was not big enough to swing a camel. The cameraman & other crew justed craked up laughing. It was all very spontenous and fitting for the occassion. Needless to say the editing team did not shown.
Surely you buy the house you can afford. There are thousand of generous sized houses too in the UK. “Pokey” homes are built in the UK so that first time buyers can get into the market….when they start families they move up. A pointless survey 😕
Katy, in an ideal world one would like to buy a house one can afford. This is not possible in London in most cases where people have to buy for reasons of job, family etc. I am aware of a newly built block of flats around 25M2, selling at £310,000. prices move upward of £15k per floor with same footprint.
The block (120 flats ) was released last year in October, to date 85 flats have been sold prices ranging from £310k to £2.5million for the pentahouse.” Average 2bed & 2bath, 70 m2 £600k plus. Sevice charges around £4k for a two bed.
@katy wrote:
Surely you buy the house you can afford. There are thousand of generous sized houses too in the UK. “Pokey” homes are built in the UK so that first time buyers can get into the market….when they start families they move up. A pointless survey 😕
The point is very few generous sized houses are being built in the UK these days. There might be thousands of generously sized houses in the UK that have already been built, but there are millions of people who want them. And since many currently own a property that is worth the same as it was 6 or 7 years ago, they don’t have much chance of “moving up”.
Same in Spain. A spanish relative has been trying to sell a rabbit hutch 2 bed flat for at least 3 years. They have had 2 children since marrying and don’t even have room to store the kids toys. Still think it’s pointless…there are big houses and little houses, even in poverty stricken Africa. A peep at any property sales pages in the UK will show plenty of spacious houses for sale. Likewise a “pokey” flat costing £400,000 in London would buy a 5 bedroom place in middlesborough or somewhere.
I went to the far east of Poland over the weekend and what struck me was how big the houses were. I expected it to be quite run down as its Poland B, the supposed poor half. I felt a bit jealous, in the UK these would cost 10x as much and be unobtainable for the working class.
Its the result of easy planning laws, I guess, you can get building permission quiet easily.In London or shall we say within the M25 barring specifically built family homes. They are built with the selling price in mind of the area i.e. market dictating the price. The buyer can be a first timer, buy to let, down sizing etc.
A new built is on average 15% more expensive than an older property. First timers struggle to buy either new built or an old one. In most part of outer central London a studio can cost £150k + . If the first time buyer is a couple and are lucky enough to earn £30k, three times multiple can borrow £90k, they than have to find the difference of £60k as saving or bank of Mum & Dad not to mention stamp duty, legal cost etc.
Besides living in a studio can be very suffocating & will test the strenth of the relationship.
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