In ‘rabbit hutch Britain’, living space has shrunk to the same as 80 years ago
Newly built homes have 30 per cent smaller living rooms and 13 per cent smaller kitchens than in houses from the 1970s, while overall living space has shrunk to the same as houses built in the 1940s, a survey finds
The living rooms of newly built homes in Britain are nearly a third smaller than equivalent homes built in the 1970s, according to new research that charts how overall living space has shrunk to levels last seen 80 years ago.
The research, by LABC Warranty, which provides warranties for new-build homes, found that the average living room in a house built since 2010 is 17.1 square metres (184 square feet), compared with 24.9 square metres (268 square feet) in the 1970s, a 32 per cent contraction.
The study also found that modern-day master bedrooms are on average 13.4 square metres (144 square feet) in size, compared with 14.7 square metres (158 square feet) in the 1970s.
“Overall, Britain built the biggest houses in the 1970s,” said a spokesman for LABC. But from the 1980s onwards “Britain’s houses started to regress”.
Despite the vogue for “island” kitchens, the space given to food preparation peaked in the 1960s and is now 13 per cent smaller in new-build homes, the report said.
The research points to a reduction in the number of bedrooms, which peaked in the 1980s at an average of 3.6 compared with just under three bedrooms today. Overall, today’s homes are the same size as those built in the 1940s, the research found.
