It seems that “getting a highly paid job” will soon only buy you half a home, with Perth developers soon to offer homes on lots as small as 80 square metres. From The ABC:
…soon blocks as small as 80 square metres — the size of a modest two-bedroom apartment — will go on sale in Perth.
The Urban Development Institute of Australia defines a micro-block as a lot that is less than 200 square metres…
“There are a number of areas where micro-lots are being planned as part of developments — Cockburn, Kwinana, Wanneroo, Canning and Subiaco” [the institute’s chief executive Allison Hailes told ABC Radio Perth]…
“The houses that are being developed for these micro-lots are using very clever design.
“The house floor space might be 200 square metres.
“So we are seeing two-bedroom or even three-bedroom houses being built on micro-lots…
The trend towards ‘micro homes’ has been happening for several years.
First, there is the boom in high-rise ‘shoebox’ apartments across the East Coast capitals:
Second, there is the 35% reduction of lot sizes across Australia’s capital cities over the past 20-years:
The truth of the matter is that Australians have been spending much more on housing and receiving a lot less in return. For this you can thank mass immigration in combination with the deliberate choking of land supply by Australia’s state governments, which has forced more people to be squeezed into Australia’s existing urban footprints.
