Average Aussie home size smallest in 20 years
Apartments are dragging down the average home size, even as freestanding homes grow.
Apartments are dragging down the average home size, even as freestanding homes grow.Data from CommSec and the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the average floor size of Australian homes is now 189.8 square metres, 2.7% down from the previous year and the smallest since 1997. CommSec said the smaller home size was due to increased apartment construction rather than shrinking freestanding homes.
“In fact, the average house built today is over 30% bigger than 30 years ago,” CommSec said in a release.
Newly built freestanding homes had an average floor size of 233.3 square metres, the biggest in four years. This is down from a peak floor size of 247.7 square metres in 2008/09.
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“Aussies are still building some of the biggest detached houses in the world. In fact, the size of the average new house has grown slightly over the past two years. But the average house size isn’t reaching new highs, having peaked around six years ago. There are still McMansions being built, but there are fewer of them,” CommSec chief economist Craig James said.
And apartments are growing in popularity, CommSec said. Apartments now account for 47% of all new homes being built, up from 27% just seven years ago.
Globally, only the US pipped Australia for average new home size. The average new home built in the US in 2016 was 204.3 square metres.
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