Ministers to press for larger homes as builders put the squeeze on families

British families are being squeezed into ever smaller living space according to research published ahead of new government guidelines calling for the building of more family homes.

The average size of a UK house plot has shrunk by 2.3 per cent in the past 15 months as the proportion of flats among newly built homes has increased while the proportion of ordinary semi-detached and terrace houses has fallen.

Planning guideline PPS3, the new policy guidance on housing, is expected to be launched at the end of next week by the Department of Communities and Local Government and is likely to encourage the building of more homes suitable for families.

Yvette Cooper, the Housing Minister, has called for a revival of the town house and terrace house to help to keep families in urban areas. She has said that local authorities will have to think specifically about the need for family housing as part of the planning process, and in particular large developments.

Wolsey Securities, an independent finance specialist for housebuilders, said that research into its portfolio of 140 developments had found that more homes were being squeezed into less space.

Mike Ratcliffe, the chief executive, said: "Families are having to accept smaller homes on smaller plot sizes."

Wolsey's figures tie in with findings by Kier, the housebuilder, which said that it had seen a 2 per cent reduction in unit size between 2005 and 2006. In its preliminary results statement in September Kier said that the average selling price of a home declined from £181,700 in 2005 to £180,100 this year, reflecting the reduction in unit size.

Data from the Building Cost Information Service also shows this is part of a long term trend.That body's figures show that there has been a 35 per cent decrease in the size of a typical UK house since 1920. The size of a small terrace house has shrunk from 95 sq m before 1920 to just 60 sq m since 1980.

That decrease in space means that 15 per cent of newly built one and two-bedroom homes have master bedrooms that are not fit for two people, according to research by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

A spokesman for Redrow, the builder, said that its unit size had not changed in the past 15 months. He added that there were fewer houses in the UK today compared with the early 20th century.

"You get a lot of houses that would have been built up into flats during the course of the century," he said.

CABE, the body for the built environment, said that there was growing public concern about a perceived decline in housing space standards. It said in a report: "Consumers of new-build housing describe a gap between what size of home they were led to expect and what they ended up with."

Gavin McGuire, a housing market spokesman for the Department of Communities, said: "There is a prevalence of flats being built and density is increasing, so it is logical that the size of homes is decreasing, but not by much."

He said that government figures showed that the average size of home had barely changed in the past 20 years.

However, there had been an increase in the percentage of large detached homes being built.

Wolsey's figures show that the proportion of detached homes being added to its portfolio has increased by 1 percentage point since February and government figures show that the number of homes over 110 sq m increased to 3.83 million in 2004 from 3.67 milion the year before.

60 sq m

The size of a small terraced house since 1980, down from 95 sq m before 1920.