homes

The Aussie home is shrinking, apparently

11:32AM Angus Kidman | In an article for The Courier Mail about new housing developments, writer John McCarthy laments the fact that Australian houses are getting smaller: NO real backyard, no laundry, smaller and fewer rooms, the end of the two-car family and probably the backyard cricket match – welcome to the future of affordable housing. I’ll be honest — when I read this, I thought a serious dose of urban realism was required. Although I’ve got my own laundry and only two bedrooms, my own Sydney apartment largely matches the description of this “bare necessities” home, and I’ve got no complaints. If I lived in any other major global city, I’d probably think the amount of space I had was spectacularly generous. A bigger backyard would be nice, but that’s what the local park is for (mine even has a BBQ). And as for the two-car family, the rising cost of petrol and its environmental impact should be making people rethink that strategy anyway. Do our homes need to be as big as they have been in the past? What strategies do you use to live effectively in less space? Let us know in the comments. Houses shrinking as mortgage costs bite [Courier Mail] More »