Australian Bureau of Statistics
Celebrating the International Year of Statistics 2013

FEATURE ARTICLE: AVERAGE FLOOR AREA OF NEW RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS


This article was published in Building Approvals, Australia, Feb 2008.

INTRODUCTION

This article presents information on the floor area of new residential dwellings and is collected in the quarterly Building Activity Survey. It builds on a similar article published in the December 2003 issue of this publication.

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. 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, carport, etc, attached outside the exterior walls of one or more storeys, is excluded.


METHOD

The floor area data was obtained from the Building Activity survey. The proportion of survey records with floor area data that was not stated has varied annually between 9% and 25% of all residential dwellings and these have been excluded from the analyses. While fluctuating from year to year, the proportion of stated floor areas has tended to decrease over time.

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 1986-87 to 2006-07.

There has been a steady increase in the average floor area of new residential dwellings over the 21 years to June 2007. The average floor area of all new residential dwellings increased from 162.1m² to 212.1m² over this time, an increase of 30.8%. New houses increased from 176.9m² to 239.2m² (35.2%), while new other residential dwellings increased from 104.7m² to 140.6m² (34.3%).

Table 1 shows a steady growth in the average floor area of new houses has been evident in recent years following the fall in 2001-02. Between 2002-03 and 2006-07, the average floor area of new houses increased by 10.0m² (4.4%) and the average floor area of new other residential dwellings increased by 3.9m² (2.8%), although it has decreased over the last two years. The total average floor area of new residential dwellings increased by 4.3m² (2.1%) over the same period, despite experiencing a small decrease in 2004-05.


Average floor area of new residential dwellings

1. Average Floor Area of New Residential Dwellings, Australia
	New Houses		New Other Residential		Total New Residential
Period	m2	% Change(a)	m2	% Change(a)	m2	% Change(a)
2000-01	227.5	2.6	132.6	0.9	204.4	2.0
2001-02	221.2	-2.8	134.7	1.5	201.7	-1.3
2002-03	229.2	3.6	136.7	1.5	207.8	3.0
2003-04	235.0	2.5	143.0	4.6	211.0	1.5
2004-05	238.4	1.4	143.7	0.5	210.4	-0.3
2005-06	242.6	1.8	142.1	-1.2	213.2	1.3
2006-07	239.2	-1.4	140.6	-1.0	212.1	-0.5
(a) Percentage change from previous year.

New Houses

The average floor area of new houses increased in all States and Territories over the 21 years to June 2007. The highest increases were in the Australian Capital Territory (63.9%), New South Wales (53.9%) and Queensland (36.6%).

Between 2000-01 and 2006-07, the average floor area of new houses in South Australia and Tasmania decreased by 7.0% and 3.0% respectively, while the average floor area in the remaining States and Territories increased. The highest increases in the last seven years were recorded in the Northern Territory (23.0%) and New South Wales (10.2%) (table 2).

The average floor area of new houses built in 2006-07 was largest in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory with 274.6m² and 243.6m² respectively. The smallest average new house floor area for 2006-07 was recorded in South Australia with 191.5m².

2. Average floor area of new houses by State and Territory
	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	Australia
Period	m2	m2	m2	m2	m2	m2	m2	m2	m2
2000-01	249.2	217.3	234.3	206.0	226.0	200.9	188.0	223.0	227.5
2001-02	236.1	216.7	223.7	193.8	224.5	181.8	179.9	223.8	221.2
2002-03	246.7	225.0	233.9	197.8	229.5	180.1	182.9	228.7	229.2
2003-04	252.0	229.3	241.5	197.8	240.4	187.2	200.9	232.3	235.0
2004-05	250.6	238.8	245.5	198.9	234.2	199.1	232.5	250.4	238.4
2005-06	266.0	241.9	252.4	193.5	237.5	188.9	209.1	249.9	242.6
2006-07	274.6	237.8	239.3	191.5	237.5	195.0	231.2	243.6	239.2
2000-01 to 2006-07 % Change	10.2	9.5	2.1	-7.0	5.1	-3.0	23.0	9.2	5.1

New Other Residential Dwellings

The average floor area of new other residential dwellings increased in all States and Territories over the 21 years to June 2007. The greatest increases were in the Northern Territory (78.7%), Queensland (53.6%) and South Australia (45.0%).

In the last seven years, the average floor area of new other residential dwellings decreased in Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. The highest increases between 2000-01 and 2006-07 were recorded in Queensland (21.2%) and the Northern Territory (12.8%) (Table 3).

The average floor area of new other residential dwellings built in 2006-07 was highest in the Northern Territory (164.2 m²) and Queensland (153.0 m²), while the lowest were in the Australian Capital Territory (129.6 m²) and Tasmania (102.3m²).

3. Average floor area of new other residential dwellings(a)
	NSW	Vic.	Qld	SA	WA	Tas.	NT	ACT	Australia
Period	m2	m2	m2	m2	m2	m2	m2	m2	m2
2000-01	130.1	138.8	126.3	140.1	142.0	112.8	145.5	129.9	132.6
2001-02	128.7	148.1	126.1	159.6	140.8	136.9	129.4	125.1	134.7
2002-03	130.5	142.4	140.4	143.8	136.1	124.3	131.7	129.4	136.7
2003-04	145.1	137.1	142.7	148.2	144.9	94.9	172.8	176.5	143.0
2004-05	142.8	139.6	149.2	143.4	143.7	91.3	164.5	147.0	143.7
2005-06	138.7	141.2	146.9	146.0	144.1	121.8	149.0	122.7	142.1
2006-07	132.0	134.8	153.0	145.1	139.6	102.3	164.2	129.6	140.6
2000-01 to 2006-07 % Change	1.5	-2.9	21.2	3.5	-1.7	-9.3	12.8	-0.2	6.0
(a) Care should be taken in interpreting data at the State or Territory level as annual revisions can occur depending on the mix of dwelling type.

For further information about these and related statistics, contact Rachel Fisher on Adelaide (08) 8237 7324.