Data from the Housing Industry Association shows that the median housing lot in Australia is now 441.2sq m, compared with the traditional quarter-acre block of 1,000sq m. The rising cost of residential land is also prompting more people to opt for high-density living, with apartments now accounting for 30% new housing developments. Demographer Bernard Salt says changing lifestyles means that many Australians do not want a large backyard. From The Australian:
More Australians than ever are choosing to live in units and townhouses. A decade ago, only 12 per cent of new homes were apartments; that proportion has now grown to 30 per cent and was set to rise further, said HIA chief economist Tim Reardon…
The HIA’s snapshot of the Australian backyard shows it to be a shadow of the grassy hub that dominated family life for generations when the quarter-acre block held sway. By 2001, the median capital city land lot had shrunk to 606.7sq m, falling to 469.7sq m in 2010…
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Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness.
Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.
