What is the average house size in the UK?

Blog Post
Big and little house - house sizes UK 1930-current

Houses are a controversial subject in the UK. Some say we are not building enough, some say we are not building houses of the right quality and some say the houses we are building are just too small. 

Now, while the first two complaints are generally quite subjective topics, where the argument largely rests on your opinion, you simply can’t argue with size. 

Either the British houses we are building are smaller than the previous decade, or they are not. Simple, data-led fact. 

With this in mind, the data experts at LABC Warranty wanted to settle the argument once and for all - are Britain’s houses really getting smaller? 

Turning to property sites such as Rightmove and Zoopla, we have analysed data on 10,000 houses built in each decade going all the way back to the 1930s. 

Find our results below - and yes, Britain’s houses really are getting smaller!

Find a full methodology at the bottom of this article.

Average UK house size in the 1930s 

Going back to the 1930s, this is where our analysis starts. 

You may be wondering:

 

“Why start in the 1930s?”

Well, unfortunately there just isn’t enough data for houses built in the decades before 1930. Whether they have been knocked down to make way for new housing developments or turned into student accommodation, there simply weren’t 10,000 houses available for us to analyse.

So what did LABC Warranty’s analysis of 1930s houses show? 

Britain’s 1930s houses really were quite small. The analysis showed that the average living room would measure about 16.01m2 and the main bedroom was on average 15.34m2. 1930s kitchens were the smallest of any decade, with the average measuring just 12.27m2.

House sizes 1930s in the UK

Key Stats - 1930s Housing

The average living room was 16.01m2

The average master bedroom was 15.34m2

The average kitchen was 12.27m2

The average home had 3.21 bedrooms

Average UK house size in the 1940s

The Second World War had a profound impact on the British building industry. 

Much of the industry came to a standstill in the first half of the decade, while the second half was plagued by a short supply of workers and building materials. 

So what did their analysis of 1940s houses show?

Of the housing that was built after the war, things did start to improve. Living rooms grew by 1.12m2 and kitchen size grew by nearly 2.00m2. That’s quite an improvement across the decade. 

However, their analysis did show that master bedroom size decreased by over 1.5m2. This could be the direct result of 40s houses offering more bedrooms than the previous decade.

1940 House sizes in the UK

Key Stats - 1940s Housing

The average living room was 17.22m2

The average master bedroom was 13.74m2

The average kitchen was 13.70m2

The average home had 3.63 bedrooms

Average UK house size in the 1950s

Following the Second World War, the desire to rebuild the nation was paramount. 

People demanded new homes and the need to rebuild such a great number of homes led to a housing revolution. 

So what did LABC Warranty’s analysis of 1950s houses show? 

In terms of the size, houses built in the 1950s offered plenty. 

Our analysis showed that living rooms grew even further to 22.03m2. Kitchen size grew by another 0.30m2, and the master bedroom added nearly 1m2 to its overall size.

1950 House sizes in the UK

Key Stats - 1950s Housing

The average living room was 22.03m2

The average master bedroom was 14.49m2

The average kitchen was 14.05m2

The average home had 3.16 bedrooms

Average UK house size in the 1960s

The 1960s house building industry was split into two eras. 

The first was between 1960 and 1965. For five years the industry embraced the construction of tower block housing, with over 55,000 built in 5 years. 

The second half of the 60s saw complaints of shoddy design overwhelm the building industry. This led to tower blocks being dropped in exchange for functional, box-like homes that are highly popular today. 

So what did analysis of 1960s houses show?

As the quality of Britain’s homes improved in the later part of the decade, so did the size. 

Living rooms remained over 20m2 and master bedrooms had a 15.05m2 average. The largest so far. 

Interestingly, our analysis showed that on average 1960s houses were 1.35m2 bigger than the previous decade. 

1960s house sizes in the UK

Key Stats - 1960s Housing

The average living room was 21.05m2

The average master bedroom was 15.05m2

The average kitchen was 15.37m2

The average home had 3.21 bedrooms

Average UK house size in the 1970s

With inflation as high as 36% defining the first half of the 70s, the second half of the decade would be defined by modern architecture. 

Homes started to move away from traditional box-like design and almost took on a whimsical appeal. 

So what did the analysis of 1970s houses show? 

As houses started to take on whimsical interior design, the exterior size of the average house continued to grow. 

Living rooms reached 24.89m2, the typical kitchen measured 14.96m2 and the average number of bedrooms grew to 3.53. 

Overall, Britain built the biggest houses in the 1970s. 

1970 house sizes UK

Key Stats - 1970s Housing

The average living room was 24.89m2

The average master bedroom was 14.71m2

The average kitchen was 14.96m2

The average home had 3.53 bedrooms

Average UK house size in the 1980s

As disposable income nearly doubled in the 80s, the demand for improved regulations and guidelines for new housing developments soared. 

This led to a decline in the number of houses being built, but the quality surged.

So what did their analysis of 1980s houses show? 

Britain’s houses started to regress. 

Living room size dropped by an average of 2.8m2, master bedroom size dropped from 14.71m2 to 13.83m2 and even typical kitchen sizes regressed by 0.82m2. 

Does this downhill trend continue? 

1980 House sizes in the UK

Key Stats - 1980s Housing

The average living room was 22.06m2

The average master bedroom was 13.83m2

The average kitchen was 14.02m2

The average home had 3.58 bedrooms

Average UK house size in the 1990s

The last decade of the 20th century will be remembered as the era that celeb culture emerged, reality TV was born and glossy magazines aplenty could be found in most UK homes. 

So what did LABC Warranty’s analysis of 1990s houses show? 

Similar to the previous decade, Britain’s houses would continue to get smaller. 

Living rooms would regress by 0.7m2 and kitchens would lose another 0.25m2 also. 

Surprisingly, master bedrooms did make a slight improvement of 0.12m2 compared to the previous decade. 

1990 UK house sizes

Key Stats - 1990s Housing

The average living room was 21.33m2

The average master bedroom was 13.95m2

The average kitchen was 13.79m2

The average home had 3.42 bedrooms

Average UK house size in the 2000s

With the turn of the millennium, British society was blown away by the advances in technology and science. 

The iPod would change how we listened to music forever. 

Social networking would take over our lives. 

Recycling bins would become a ‘thing’. 

So what did analysis of 2000s houses show?

Compared to the previous two decades, Britain’s houses would continue to get smaller.

Our analysis showed that the average living room size dropped to below 20m2 for the first time in 50 years, while the master bedroom and kitchen would regress too. 

2000 UK house sizes

Key Stats - 2000 Housing

The average living room was 19.75m2

The average master bedroom was 13.64m2

The average kitchen was 13.44m2

The average home had 3.32 bedrooms

So what is the UK's average house size overall?

Today, Britain’s houses have never been smaller. 

LABC Warranty’s analysis of the first seven years of the decade is continued regression. 

The average living room is now 17.09m2. That’s a 1.64m2 drop in a decade. Bedroom size and the number of bedrooms on offer has decreased also. 

Master bedrooms diminish by an average of 0.30m2 and the number of bedrooms dropped to below three for the first time ever. 

The overall statistics don’t make for pretty reading either. Compared to the previous decade, homes built from 2010 onwards are over 4m2 smaller. 

current housing - UK house sizes

Key Stats - Current Housing

The average living room is 17.09m2

The average master bedroom is 13.37m2 

The average kitchen is 13.44m2 

The average home has 2.95 bedrooms

Living Room

Average living room size in the UK

Bedroom

Average number of bedrooms UK

Master Bedroom

Average master bedroom size

Kitchen

Average kitchen size

Overall - Updated 

This graph was updated on April 10th, 2018 at 10:20am. A user pointed out a small error in our calculations. Please find the revised figures in the graphic below. 

Please keep in mind that our overall analysis is a total of the living room, kitchen, master bedroom, secondary bedroom, third bedroom and bathroom. This does not include hallways, stairs etc.

Average overall house size UK

Methodology

All statistics that feature in this article have been collated using open data from property sites Rightmove and Zoopla. The study looked at 10,000 houses built in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s and the current decade. Data was taken on individual rooms within a home. All statistics are calculated on average.

(This article first appeared on the LABC Warranty website.)

Also read

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Future Homes Standard (Elmhurst Energy)

Comments

overall size of residential dwellings

Submitted 5 years 4 months ago

Unfortunately your overview still lacks an important information, the same information missing in the majority of all rental/house advertisements, the total size of the property!
Comparison or listing the size of a house in the number of "bed rooms" (in the UK more a room where a bed fits and nothing else) is almost as useful as classifying a car by the number of seats.
This is particularly important as often dwellings are built as houses rather than flats, so in addition to tiny rooms you also lose floorspace to stairways/corridors, etc.

Additionally, by looking at your Key Stats - Current Housing only
The average living room is 17.09m2
The average master bedroom is 13.37m2
The average kitchen is 13.44m2
The average home has 2.95 bedrooms

you also miss important information such as storage space, which is also quite essential.

Reply

Submitted 4 years 6 months ago

Actually, they DO classify cars by the number of seats! You get 2-seaters, 7-seaters, etc.

In reply to by Richard (not verified)

(No subject)

Submitted 4 years 5 months ago

Brilliant

House

Submitted 3 years 10 months ago

Interesting!

Useful

Submitted 3 years 7 months ago

used this info in my EPQ very helpful thank you

Bias because of house demolition?

Submitted 3 years 7 months ago

I found this article very interesting, Thank you.

However, the data only covers houses that still exist and are not in public ownership. Any house that was built, but subsequently demolished, does not figure in the calculations. Neither do houses built by public bodies for rent. If, as seems possible, any properties demolished are more likely to have been the smaller, cheaper ones, the average size of houses from earlier decades would be underestimated.

(No subject)

Submitted 2 years ago

As houses until at least 80s typically had two reception rooms - living and dining - how is this represented here? You discuss living rooms - but I'd argue that both living and dining are reception/living rooms and should either be accounted for separately or added to form one - living - room. I have a 50s three-bed semi, of a seemingly 'average' size with both such rooms, of c 95m2. I am therefore left wondering if you've omitted one room ('dining') in your figures.

LABC Response

Submitted 2 years ago

Thank you for your comment – we have sent this onto LABC Warranty and will post any reply we receive.

Kind Regards,
LABC Team

Political Happenings

Submitted 1 year 5 months ago

Thank you for this.
1) If one looks at this as a sort of 'work-in-progress', then I think it is a very good start. One has, in anything, to start somewhere. There can be improvements later. Let's hope that this page carries on.
2) There is no mention of 'politics'. As far as I understand it, at one time there were standards for house and room size. These standards were swept away by the Tory administration and an insistence that "The market will decide (on the sizes and standards)".
I went, once, to 'view' a house. It was an unremarkable 1970s style house in a small group with others of similar style. On entering I was struck by how spacious it was, by comparison with the other houses we had been 'viewing'. Then it struck me; the house had been built as a council house to the 'old' standards. That's why it was so spacious.
3) A comparison with houses in other European countries, such as France and Germany would also be very interesting.

LABC response

Submitted 1 year 4 months ago

Hi,

Thank you for your comment.

Best,
LABC team

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