There are obvious pros and cons for buying a large house. Some of the pros include; more space for a growing family, a larger nest egg for retirement, space for entertainment or maybe room for a business or office.
The obvious cons are; more expensive, higher utility costs, greater maintenance, more furnishing and decoration required, unnecessary or unused space and there is the tendency to collect and store more junk. Some owners of large homes have a false impression of success.
Large homes need a large footprint; they take up more land. This often leads to less yard area for kids to play and for adults to relax and less room for a garden.
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| Longwarry |
Despite our house sizes falling a little in the last few years, Australia and the USA lead the world in big homes. LINK
The average floor size of an Australian home is 186.3m². The biggest Australian homes are being built in Victoria, 244.8m². With an average occupancy of a little over 2 people, that equates to more than 100m² per person – more than the total size of an average house in Ireland and The Netherlands!
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| Drouin |
A quick check of a popular real estate website for ten new 3 and 4 'bedroom' homes in Warragul and Drouin gave an average of 241m².
In 2020, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released data
that shows, “The average site area of new houses in Australian capital cities
has decreased by 22% over the last 15 years”. LINKWarragul
Many of our new developments of large homes on small blocks also have minimal nature strips. There is very little space for a canopy tree. The urban heat island effect generated from such designs results in increased energy costs and reduced health outcomes.
Is it time we designed for the amount of home we need and not for the amount we want?