An Englishman's home is his castle, well that's how the saying goes, but it's not so much a castle as

a shed. It's official...

The British have the smallest homes in Europe!

In fact they are downright pokey, with only an average usable floor space of 76m sq according to a
new report by Bradford & Bingley. The Italians lead the rest of Europe with the most space - an
average of 92m sq per dwelling, over a fifth larger than us Brits enjoy.
The report undertaken by the Centre for Economics & Business Research for Bradford & Bingley
compares the UK property market to Germany, France, Italy and Spain. It reveals British living space
per home is 12 percent smaller than the average Spanish home, 14 percent smaller than in
Germany and 16 percent smaller than in France.
Moreover, the gap between the UK and the continent is widening with new homes in France,
Germany and Spain getting bigger. On average, newly built homes in France and Germany have
over 100m2 of usable floor space, while in Spain modern homes have 95m 2. In Britain, new homes
remain the same size as existing properties at 76m2.
These figures are more surprising when the types of properties are taken into account as over fourfifths of British households prefer to live in a house. The report reveals that 82 percent of British
families live in a house and only 15 percent live in a flat. This is in stark contrast to families on
continental Europe where flats are more popular. In Spain, Italy and Germany more than 50 percent
of families live in a flat and France is not far behind with 41 percent. Yet almost bizarrely the average
British family home has the least usable living space of the countries surveyed.
Nickie Aiken of Bradford & Bingley Estate Agents commented on the findings: "It is interesting that
the UK is trailing the continent in terms of living space, particularly when you take the fact that we
tend to live in houses rather than flats into account. Quality of life is not only about income and
spending, comfort is a core component. Hopefully the Government is aware of these figures as it
tackles the increasing demand for new housing in the UK."
Owning your own property is popular to differing degrees and despite the widely held perception to
the contrary, Britons aren't Europe's most prolific homeowners. The Spanish (80%) own more of their
homes than the Brits and Italians (69%). The French (54%) and Germans (43%) own less.

Despite the right to buy initiatives of the Thatcher governments, Britain still has the highest number
of 'social housing', namely council or housing association dwellings (22%). France has the second
highest provision of social housing with 18% living in social owned homes. Whilst Spain barely has a
social sector at all with only 1%.
Compared to our counterparts on the continent, the UK has the least developed rental sector with
less than 1 in 10 (9%) British homes being rented privately. This contrasts sharply with the
staggering 46% in Germany - over five times the UK level. This news is surprising given the recent
surge in popularity of buy to let mortgages in the UK.
There are marked differences between the residential property prices in the five countries and the
types of homes people can purchase. For 60,000 a homeowner could buy a semi-detached home
in the north of England, a rural home in Italy, a villa in Spain or an apartment in a French ski resort.