Spatial growth in Australian homes (1960–2010)

Abstract

The average new Australian home has grown from a four-roomed Victorian timber cottage of around 100 m² at the start of the twentieth century to a 245 m² brick-veneer house in 2011. The homes have grown in both size and number of rooms. Where has this growth occurred? How has Australia's average new house transitioned to now become the largest in the world? This paper traces where the growth has occurred within the house over the last 50 years. Thirty-nine houses in a suburb of Geelong, Victoria, have been analysed over the five decades, and the median house of the sample in each era has been used for the analysis. The results confirm the overall trend in house growth size that can be seen in national statistics. Most of the growth in house size has been due to the increase in living areas and in the number of and area used for bedrooms. Other variables of interest in understanding changes in Australian housing such as gross floor area, plot ratio, site size and house shape and orientation are also discussed in the context of limiting the impact of oversize houses.

Keywords:

• spatial growth
• Australian houses
• plot ratio
• site coverage
• gross floor area