Supersized Australian Dream: Investment, Lifestyle and Neighbourhood Perceptions among “Knockdown-Rebuild” Owners in Sydney

ABSTRACT

Increasingly popular “supersized” dwellings, often twice as big as the traditional detached suburban house, have been widely criticized on social, environmental, economic and aesthetic grounds. This paper examines the emergence of infill-supersized dwellings in the older post-war suburbs of Sydney, Australia, through piecemeal replacement of older houses in a process known as knockdown-rebuild. The paper explores the reasons which encourage owners to build supersized houses, demonstrating the prominence of speculative aspirations, supported by Australian tax policies. It considers the consumption of supersized dwellings, and the implications for contemporary suburban lifestyles and communities. This paper concludes that infill-supersized dwellings ultimately represent a process of accentuating existing patterns of suburban settlement in Australia as opposed to a new departure.

Key Words:

• Housing renewal
• McMansion
• Knockdown-Rebuild
• Teardowns
• Reinvestment