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Great Aussie Dream downsizes as house block areas slashed
Housing prices fall in year to May
House prices in Australia's capital cities have fallen 2.7 per cent through the first five months of 2011.
THE great Australian dream faces a major reality check, with new home buyers being offered house blocks a quarter the size their parents bought.
As Queensland developers look to meet a market with more affordable house-and-land options, lot sizes are being squeezed to less than 200sq m for the first
Back yards, which have been shrinking for decades and in recent times have been swallowed by a pool and deck, may soon disappear. Developers have been closely following the downsizing trend, which has surged in the US since the global financial crisis, and sprouted in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria.
John Thurtell, general manager of Sunshine Coast-based builders PJ Burns, recently returned from a fact-finding mission to the US where he toured master-planned communities.
Mr Thurtell said the era of the McMansions had ended and small lots were in demand.
"We are now making sure we are ready for the arrival of rear-loaded blocks here. This could be as soon as the end of the year," he said.
- Peter Hall
- From: The Sunday Mail (Qld)
- July 03, 2011 12:00AM
Housing prices fall in year to May
House prices in Australia's capital cities have fallen 2.7 per cent through the first five months of 2011.
THE great Australian dream faces a major reality check, with new home buyers being offered house blocks a quarter the size their parents bought.
As Queensland developers look to meet a market with more affordable house-and-land options, lot sizes are being squeezed to less than 200sq m for the first
Back yards, which have been shrinking for decades and in recent times have been swallowed by a pool and deck, may soon disappear. Developers have been closely following the downsizing trend, which has surged in the US since the global financial crisis, and sprouted in Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria.
John Thurtell, general manager of Sunshine Coast-based builders PJ Burns, recently returned from a fact-finding mission to the US where he toured master-planned communities.
Mr Thurtell said the era of the McMansions had ended and small lots were in demand.
"We are now making sure we are ready for the arrival of rear-loaded blocks here. This could be as soon as the end of the year," he said.
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