FEATURE ARTICLE: AVERAGE FLOOR AREA OF NEW RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS



INTRODUCTION

This article presents information on the floor area of new residential dwellings collected in the quarterly Building Activity Survey. It builds on a similar article published in the monthly issue of Building Approvals, Australia, February 2010 (cat.no. 8731.0).

The floor area of a building is a measure of the amount of useable space in a building (and its attachments) at the final stage of its construction and is measured in square metres (m²). The boundary of the recorded floor area of a building is delineated by the external perimeter of the exterior walls of the building. The area under unenclosed verandahs, carports, etc., attached outside the exterior walls of one or more storeys, is excluded.


METHOD

The floor area data were obtained from the Building Activity Survey. The proportion of survey records with floor area that was not stated has varied annually between 16% and 31% of all residential dwellings in Australia and these have been excluded from the analyses. The proportion of stated floor area may fall outside this range when broken down by state/territory and type of dwelling. While fluctuating from year to year, the proportion of stated floor area has increased in recent years. The following survey records have been excluded from the analysis as they are highly atypical or incorrectly reported:

• Survey records with floor area data less than 25m² and greater than 1800m² per dwelling for new houses; and
• Survey records with floor area of less than 25m² and greater than 800m² per dwelling for new other residential dwellings.

Average floor area was calculated using the formula:

Total stated floor area of all completed dwellings in the year / Number of completed dwellings with floor area stated in the year.


RESULTS

Graph 1 shows the average floor area of new residential dwellings from 1984-85 to 2012-13.

There has been a steady increase in the average floor area of new residential dwellings over the 28 financial years to 2012-13. The average floor area of all new residential dwellings increased from 149.7m² to 207.6m² over this time, an increase of 38.7%. New houses increased from 162.4m² to 241.1m² (48.5%), while new other residential dwellings increased from 99.2m² to 133.9m² (35.0%).

Table 1 shows an increase of 6.0m² (2.6%) in the average floor area of new houses over the ten financial years from 2003-04 to 2012-13. Conversely, the average floor area of new other residential and total new residential dwellings decreased by 8.6m² (6.0%) and 3.4m² (1.6%) respectively over this period.


AVERAGE FLOOR AREA OF NEW RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS

1. Average floor area of new residential dwellings, Australia(a)
	New houses		New other residential		Total new residential
Period	m²	% change	m²	% change	m²	% change
2003-04	235.1	2.6	142.5	4.1	211.0	1.5
2004-05	238.2	1.3	143.4	0.6	210.1	-0.3
2005-06	242.6	1.8	142.1	-0.9	213.2	1.3
2006-07	239.3	-1.4	140.9	-0.9	212.3	-0.4
2007-08	239.7	0.2	141.5	0.4	213.8	0.8
2008-09	247.7	3.2	140.5	-0.7	218.6	2.4
2009-10	238.8	-3.7	143.2	1.9	216.1	-1.3
2010-11	242.9	1.7	133.9	-6.9	213.6	-1.2
2011-12	244.9	0.8	132.2	-1.3	211.5	-1.0
2012-13	241.1	-1.6	133.9	1.3	207.6	-1.9
(a) Percentage change from previous year

NEW HOUSES

The average floor area of new houses increased in Australia by 2.6% over the 10 financial years to 2012-13. The average floor area increased in the Northern Territory (9.6%), Tasmania (6.5%) and Victoria (6.0%). Australian Capital Territory (8.4%), Western Australia (2.5%) and Queensland (0.9%) all decreased in average floor area over the same time period.

The average floor area of new houses completed in 2012-13 was highest in New South Wales with 266.2m². The lowest average floor area of new houses for 2012-13 was in Tasmania with 200.3m².

2. Average floor area of new houses by State and Territory
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
Period	m²	m²	m²	m²	m²	m²	m²	m²	m²
2003-04	252.2	229.3	241.8	197.7	240.4	188.0	200.9	232.3	235.1
2004-05	250.7	238.5	245.2	198.7	234.3	199.1	232.5	250.4	238.2
2005-06	265.8	241.9	252.5	193.6	237.4	188.7	209.4	249.9	242.6
2006-07	273.9	237.6	240.1	191.2	237.1	195.2	231.3	243.8	239.3
2007-08	252.9	240.9	247.1	191.5	242.5	196.9	221.3	257.1	239.7
2008-09	268.6	252.5	253.5	198.9	244.3	195.0	233.8	242.5	247.7
2009-10	265.2	238.6	243.4	193.9	244.5	187.8	230.2	214.9	238.8
2010-11	271.2	247.1	249.5	187.9	238.8	188.1	251.9	204.3	242.9
2011-12	267.6	247.8	251.3	204.2	235.0	197.5	220.4	238.5	244.9
2012-13	266.2	243.0	239.6	203.9	234.5	200.3	220.1	212.7	241.1

NEW OTHER RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS

The average floor area of new other residential dwellings in Australia decreased 6.0% over the 10 financial years to 2012-13. The average floor area decreased in the Australian Capital Territory (55.0%), Northern Territory (17.9%) and Queensland (8.4%). The only increases were in Tasmania (41.4%) and New South Wales (4.4%) for the same time period.

The average floor area of new other residential dwellings completed in 2012-13 was highest in New South Wales with 151.1m². The lowest average floor area of new other residential dwellings for 2012-13 was in the Australian Capital Territory with 79.4m².

3. Average floor area of new other residential buildings by State and Territory
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Aust.
Period	m²	m²	m²	m²	m²	m²	m²	m²	m²
2003-04	144.7	135.8	142.7	147.2	145.1	95.6	172.8	176.5	142.5
2004-05	142.0	139.6	149.0	144.0	143.8	91.9	164.5	147.0	143.4
2005-06	139.1	141.2	146.8	143.6	144.8	121.8	149.0	122.7	142.1
2006-07	132.1	134.8	153.6	146.0	139.7	102.2	164.2	129.6	140.9
2007-08	137.6	145.6	142.4	137.9	145.5	116.4	164.2	129.9	141.5
2008-09	136.5	138.7	145.4	121.3	144.0	123.5	222.1	115.2	140.5
2009-10	133.4	158.5	135.6	162.7	147.3	125.1	171.5	98.3	143.2
2010-11	134.9	128.5	138.4	137.6	144.8	111.4	174.1	114.7	133.9
2011-12	136.9	127.9	137.1	135.9	137.5	124.8	168.1	96.4	132.2
2012-13	151.1	132.6	130.7	140.3	137.7	135.2	141.9	79.4	133.9