Australia supersizes the US
THE nation's enduring love affair with the McMansion means Australians can now boast the largest houses in the world.
According to official data to be released today from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the average floor space of new free-standing houses last financial year hit a record 245.3sq m.
Australia also topped the list for all new houses, which includes apartments and other dwellings, with an average size of 214.6sq m.
By contrast, the average size of new houses in the US in the September quarter was 201.5sq m.
It was the first time in a decade that US house sizes fell, reflecting the global recession.
Teena and Edwin Sargeant are among those who have bought a large house at Castle Hill, an outer northern suburb of Sydney.
The couple and their two children Lili, 3, and Grace, 2, moved into their $1.2 million five-bedroom, three-bathroom, 400sq m home two years ago.
Mr Sargeant, 41, an entrepreneur, and Mrs Sargeant, 42, a financial planner, make a combined income of $800,000 and the primary reason for moving into their suburban home was to accommodate a growing family.
"It was perfect for us; our family is always visiting and it's nice to have so much space for the girls," Mrs Sargeant said.
The couple bought their house outright and said they planned to buy a larger house when their children were older.
`The ABS data shows that Australian households rose in the year to June 2008, from 2.51 people a house to 2.56 people.
CommSec chief economist Craig James said the figures challenged the widespread notion that the country was in a housing crisis.
"At face value, the increase in household size may not seem remarkable, but it appears to be the first increase in at least a century, and perhaps the first since European settlement," Mr James said.
"It makes sense. Population is rising, as is the cost of housing and the cost of moving house, so we are making greater use of what we've got."
SQM Research managing director Louis Christopher said the move towards larger houses in Australia had been gradually increasing over the past 20 years and was simply a status symbol.
He said Australians would continue to want bigger houses for as long as the land was available.
"The worrying thing is it could very well aggravate the current housing shortage," Mr Christopher said. "Ultimately, people are increasingly determining their social status by the size of their home and that isn't going to change any time soon."
