Median House sizes around the world.

http://www.demographia.com/db-intlhouse.htm
from WinCustomize Forums

As some will know...I've been in the Architecture game for 37 years now..... and a recent news item here in Oz had me thinking.

Australia leads the world [if that's the PC term for excess] in seemingly wanting 'bigger is better'.  We outstrip even the US, where you'd expect space, pricing, demand to put them on top.

OK, so it's only 14 sq Metres more [about 2 squares], but the more sobering thought is Aussie homes are almost THREE TIMES the size of the average home in the UK.

Sure, we have the 'space'....Oz is a big country.... but the Urban sprawl and demands on materials and infrastructure are borderline obscene.

I guess I was prompted to comment as I've just completed a sketch design for 2 units on a 'standard' subdivision lot...and each is over 18 squares [1800 sq. feet] excluding Garage and balconies, etc.... yet still fitted within the 50% built-on area requirement.

Clearly Urban Planning needs to change....particularly when the 'Greater Melbourne' [Oz] is the same area as the Greater London.....yet the later has about 4 or 5 times the population.

Interestingly I can still remember the first house I drew....37 years ago.  It was 13 squares....;p

 

10,298 views 17 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Sounds like the "Outback" refers to the median Ozzie's backyard.  ;)

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Please don't get me started. As a family of nine we grew up 'cozy' in a 12sq home in Melbourne (Oz). Today 2 adults & 1.5 kids (how do they split kids?) is a 2 storey with a mausoleum front and - get this - NO EAVES!!! (Common sense died a long time ago)

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

30 years ago in Ireland the norm in the country was 5 kids in a 2 bedroom cottage now it is 2 kids in a 5 bedroom bungalow with obligatory sunroom for the one day of summer in the year.

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Median can be extremely misleading as all it means are half are bigger and half are smaller. You need to look at average as well, this is the more indicative number when it comes to conspicuous consumption, and I am betting the US leads the world on that one.

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Median can be extremely misleading as all it means are half are bigger and half are smaller.

It's the average of all existing housing stock.

Yes, half are bigger...half are smaller...that's what 'average' means.

Oz has far fewer units/flats/appartments than most other places....hence the size of the AVERAGE ...;)

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

My local coucillor lives in a 12 bedroom, two storey house that's easily the size of four average suburban homes.  I quipped that it was a mighty big house when he was electioneering for the Labor Party during the last federal election, and he quipped: "Sure is, I haven't seen half the rooms in over a year.

The excesses of the rich, eh!  He lives there with just his wife... nobody else. :S

What really got me was the house my son showed me... he does concrete floor sealing and did the floors there.  Three storeys cut into a hillside; the gound floor 8 times bigger than the (average sized house) I'm in; a kitchen big enough to service a medium sized hotel; a lounge room the size of a small cinema; 16 bedrooms with ensuite on the second floor; also on the second floor, a TV room, study and (second) laundry facilities; and a master bedroom with ensuite, walk in robes, powder room and study that takes up the entire third floor.

Outside: full-sized tennis court; a half-sized olympic pool; a stable to accommodate up to a dozen horses... and a six bedroom guest house.

Anyone wanna hazard a guess as to what kind of person who'll be living there???  A clue: one of my least favourite professions next to politician.

:-"

 

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Anyone wanna hazard a guess as to what kind of person who'll be living there??? A clue: one of my least favourite professions next to politician.

An Ex-Politician? ;P

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

An Ex-Politician?

Nope!  Another clue: this profession likes to spend other peoples money and give itself huge, undeserved bonuses.

:-"

Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top

still sounds like a politician......

Home sizes have been growing here since the 50's. Some of the older subdivisions have SF lots that are 50'x100' and local governement now requires you to purchase 2 to build 1 home. When I was a kid most "tract home subdivisions" were 2 or 3 bdr homes between 750 SF and 900 SF. I don't think you could find a subdivision done in the last 20 years with a minimum floor area of less then 1200 SF (and that would likely be HUD housing) The "norm" for new subdivisions is a minimum lot size of 100'x150' with 35% max FAR as a base.

Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Another clue: this profession likes to spend other peoples money and give itself huge, undeserved bonuses.

Oh! A Bankertician! XD

 

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Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting WebGizmos, reply 10

Another clue: this profession likes to spend other peoples money and give itself huge, undeserved bonuses.


Oh! A Bankertician!

 

:rofl:  XD Gotta pay that one, bud.

Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

this profession likes to spend other peoples money and give itself huge, undeserved bonuses.

 

 congress?

Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Oh! A Bankertician!

As near as what f**k is to cussing. :rofl:

Gotta pay that one, bud.

Yup, sure have... especially when you consider how many bankers have ties to polytishuns. :-"

congress?

Yup, them bastards, too!  They're all a pack of lies short of being honest. ;)  

Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Ours is 1600 sq. ft. on 1/2 acre.  Too much to take care of these days.

Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Hey! How about each country build one huge house.....with lots of bedrooms....a huge kitchen/cafeteria....common area...oh...and lots a bathrooms...loos...outhouses...or whatever you call them and leave enough space for a back yard. I mean really....everyone is so much into excese why not just go all out and use up all the land already....maybe it will finally push us over the edge and the planet can shake us off like a bad case of fleas. XD

Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top

That's gonna happen anyway. In terms of geological epochs, what is a century?

Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top

the planet can shake us off like a bad case of fleas.

To the planet, that's what mankind is.... fleas.   That's because mankind, through it's greed, has taken from the planet all it can without due care or putting anything back... like any other parasite.

The planet has already begun to fight back... and mankind's days are numbered.

And just maybe, just maybe this global warming is not man-made.... but nature's flea collar.