There are a couple of complaints that are regularly heard in real estate, particularly in regards to inner city housing – affordability, and size. Architects are rolling the two concepts together, and making smaller properties a positive in response to complaints about the cost of housing by recommending people turn to smaller abodes. At Century 21, we see all kinds of properties on the market and going in and out of style, and although the new small trend is starting to be visible amongst home designers and builders, it will probably take a while for the general public to catch on.
Recently, competitors for the Australian Institute of Architecture Awards in the Small Project category included a beach house by Michael Dysart - a man who designed skyscrapers such as the Regent Hotel in Sydney during the 1980s. Michael decided he wanted an extra bedroom and living room adding to his waterfront fibro cottage on the Central Coast, but instead of using all of the block, he kept the whole thing within 100 square metres. Another entry boasted floor area of just 120 square metres.
Despite the increasing interest amongst architects for well designed small spaces, clients generally still think big is better. Most people in the market for a property, or who are building a home, want the right size for them at the right price, but that right size is often preordained and many won't budge on size.
In December, a report by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that the average cost to build a new house in NSW was $272,000 and the average floor area was 252 square metres. Twenty years earlier the cost was $67,000 and the average area was 181 square metres which implies people are demanding more space, not less.
There is of course a market that wishes to downsize, and often these people say their smaller homes feel bigger than the larger property they left. Often this can be attributed to a reduction in clutter, advice Century 21 always gives our clients – an uncluttered home is a larger-looking one!