Australian houses are the world's biggest: CommSec
Australia is again building the biggest houses in the world, data commissioned by CommSec from the ABS has found.
The average new house built in 2019/20 was 235.8 square metres, up 2.9 per cent on the year and the biggest increase in 11 years.
Latest data from the US, from 2019, saw their average house size build drop to 233.1 square metres, the fourth year in a row the figure has declined. Its most recent contraction was three per cent.
It's not just housing which is getting bigger either.
The average size of an apartment in Australia is six per cent higher over the year, hitting a decade high of 136.8 square metres.
The ACT built the biggest houses in Australia in 2019/20, ahead of Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia.
Despite lifting six per cent last year, the average house in NSW is six per cent smaller than Victoria.
The smallest new houses built were in Tasmania, an average size of 179 sqm.
The biggest 'other dwellings', which incorporates townhouses and apartments, are found in Victoria, with an average of 155 sqm, followed by Western Australia at 150.5 sqm.
New South Wales (121.3 sqm) and Tasmania (132.5 sqm) have the smallest apartments and townhouses.
CommSec chief economist Craig James says that before last year, Aussie home buyers had been building progressively smaller houses on average.
"Aussies had embraced apartments as well as smaller houses on smaller lot sizes. In fact the size of the average house built last year (2018/19) was the smallest in 17 years," James says.
“So while Aussies built bigger homes over the past year, the big question is whether the decade-long downtrend in home size has ended. And COVID-19 may play a big role in answering that question.
“Government-imposed lockdowns in response to the COVID-19 virus have prompted more Aussies to re-assess their housing needs. With more time spent at home for both leisure and work, some Aussies are looking for bigger homes. Others are coming to the belief that the layout of their home needs changing.”
In 2009 Australia was building the biggest detached houses they had ever built, the biggest in the world. But they relinquished that title in 2013.
