8731.0 - Building Approvals, Australia, Feb 2010 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 31/03/2010   
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FEATURE ARTICLE: AVERAGE FLOOR AREA OF NEW RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS


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 February 2008 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 area has increased in recent years. Survey records with floor area data less than 25 square meters and greater than 1800 square meters per dwelling for new houses and floor area of less than 25 square meters and greater than 800 square meters per dwelling for new other residential dwellings have been excluded from the analysis due to the unreliability of the data.

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 2008-09.

1. Average floor area of new residential dwellings, Australia
Graph: 1. Average floor area of new residential dwellings, Australia


There has been a steady increase in the average floor area of new residential dwellings over the 24 financial years to June 2009. The average floor area of all new residential dwellings increased from 149.7m2 to 218.9m2 over this time, an increase of 46.2%. New houses increased from 162.4m2 to 248.0m2 (52.7%), while new other residential dwellings increased from 99.2m2 to 140.8m2 (42.0%).

Table 1 shows an increase of 14.5m2 (7.1%) in the average floor area of total new residential dwellings over the eight financial years from July 2000 to June 2009. The average floor area of new houses and new other residential dwellings increased by 20.5m2 (9.0%) and 8.2m2 (6.2%) respectively over this period even though new other residential dwellings recorded lower average floor area values in 2008-09 than 2003-04.


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
-
132.6
-
204.4
-
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
239.3
-1.4
140.7
-1.0
212.2
-0.4
2007-08
239.6
0.1
141.7
0.7
213.9
0.8
2008-09
248.0
3.5
140.8
-0.6
218.9
2.4
(a) Percentage change from previous year


New Houses

The average floor area of new houses increased in all States and Territories over the 24 financial years to June 2009. The highest increases were in the Northern Territory (72.5%), New South Wales (69.2%) and Queensland (63.8%).

Between 2000-01 and 2008-09, the average floor area of new houses in South Australia and Tasmania decreased by 3.2% and 2.4% respectively, while the average floor area in the remaining States and Territories increased. The highest increases in the last eight financial years were recorded in the Northern Territory (24.2%) and Victoria (16.3%) (Table 2).

The average floor area of new houses built in 2008-09 was largest in New South Wales with 269.5m2. The smallest average floor area of a new house for 2008-09 was recorded in Tasmania with 196.0m2.

2. Average Foor 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
237.9
239.6
191.6
237.1
194.9
231.2
243.8
239.3
2007-08
251.6
241.0
247.3
191.6
242.4
196.7
221.2
256.7
239.6
2008-09
269.5
252.8
253.7
199.3
244.4
196.0
233.6
242.5
248.0
2000-01 to 2008-09 % Change
8.1
16.3
8.3
-3.2
8.1
-2.4
24.2
8.7
9.0



New Other Residential Dwellings

The average floor area of new other residential dwellings increased in all States and Territories over the 24 financial years to June 2009. The largest increases were in the Northern Territory (148.4%) and Queensland (48.8%).

The average floor area of new other residential dwellings increased in all states and territories except South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory over the eight financial years from July 2000 to June 2009. Each state and territory showed reduced average floor areas on at least three occasions over this period. Large decreases were experienced in four of the six states in 2006-07, resulting in the lowest average floor area for new other residential dwellings at the Australia level since 2003-04. The highest increases between 2000-01 and 2008-09 were in the Northern Territory (52.6%) and Queensland (15.1%).

The average floor area of new other residential dwellings completed in 2008-09 were highest in the Northern Territory (222.1m2) and Queensland (145.4m2), while the lowest were in the Australian Capital Territory (115.2m2) and South Australia (121.7m2).

3. Average floor area of new other residential buildings(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
142.3
140.4
143.8
136.0
124.3
131.7
129.4
136.7
2003-04
145.1
137.1
142.7
148.2
144.9
94.9
172.7
176.5
143.0
2004-05
142.7
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
121.7
149.0
122.7
142.1
2006-07
132.0
134.8
153.0
146.5
139.6
102.3
164.2
129.6
140.7
2007-08
137.1
145.6
143.0
138.2
146.3
116.7
164.2
129.9
141.7
2008-09
137.3
139.0
145.4
121.7
143.6
123.2
222.1
115.2
140.8
2000-01 to 2008-09 % Change
5.5
0.2
15.1
-13.1
1.1
9.3
52.6
-11.3
6.2
(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 Kate Niedorfer on Adelaide (08) 8237 7523.