Australia's New Housing area shrinks 'the World's largest' gives way to the United States

The average size of new homes built in Australia in the previous fiscal year was lower than in the past, according to a new analysis by the Australian Federal Securities (CommSec). Australia's title of "the world's largest new housing area" has given way to the United States. According to the Sydney Morning Frontier, the average floor area of independent homes built in Australia in last fiscal year was 231 square meters, down from the record of 247.7 square meters set in fiscal year 2008 / 09, according to the Federal Securities House area trend report. Units and apartments account for more and more new homes, but they are smaller and smaller. In the previous fiscal year, the average area of new apartments was 131.3 square meters, about 9 percent below the 143.7-square-meter high set in fiscal 2004-05. More than 40 percent of all homes completed nationwide in the previous fiscal year were medium-density and high-density, the report said. Craig James, chief economist at federal securities, said smaller plots were one of the reasons for the decline in average building area. However, the preference of young buyers and new immigrants for different types of housing is also a factor. In the 2014 / 16 fiscal year, the state had the largest average floor area of 241.1 square meters, followed by Queensland (237.7 square meters) and New State (227.4 square meters), according to the report. The new houses with the smallest average floor area are in the capital administrative region (180.8 square meters) and Tasmania (188.1 square meters). In terms of flats and apartments, the average area of new houses built in the Northern Territory in the fiscal year was the largest, at 179 square meters, followed by Victoria (134.7 square metres) and New State (132.4 square meters). Between the mid-1980s and 2010, the average size of new homes in Australia surged by 50%. For about 15 years before 2012, the average size of new homes in Australia was larger than in the United States. While global comparisons are difficult, Federal Securities believes the average size of new homes built by Australians during this period is likely to be the largest in the world. But in the past few years, the area of newly built stand-alone homes in the United States has surpassed that of Australia. Last year, the average area of new homes in the United States was 250 square meters, about 10 percent more than the average area in Australia. Even so, Australia's housing is still large by international standards. The federal securities analysis comes from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.