The UK’s Housing Squeeze
Project Info
The UK builds, on average, the smallest new homes in western Europe. Research conducted by Cambridge University found that the UK finished bottom of a list of 15 major EU countries. The graphics below show a comparative representation of the average new-build house size and how the UK compares to the European average, and to other countries around the world.
Average size of new-build houses by country.
Opposite shows how UK / EU average compares with other Western societies.
How overall floorplan sizes have changed over time. Long-term trend shows average number of bedrooms, as well as individual room-size, steadily decreasing.
While average room sizes have fluctuated as the way we use them has changed, the general trend since the 1960s has been for all room-types in UK new-builds to become smaller.
Average new-build floorplan size by region.
New homes in Northern Ireland are generally larger than those in England and the rest of the UK because of different planning expectations, lower relative land costs, and traditionally higher numbers of detached and semi-detached properties being built.
