Melbourne housing trends - when a three bedroom house is no longer enough

Last week I looked at dwelling diversity in Melbourne from the perspective of dwelling type.  This week's focus is the number of bedrooms, and how this differs by dwelling type across Melbourne.  Separate dwellings comprise 66.1% of the stock in Greater Melbourne, but they come in all shapes and sizes, adding to the diversity mix.  A major trend in recent years has been the increasing size of separate houses - as measured by the number of bedrooms.  For many years the humble three bedroom family home was a quintessential part of suburbia, but their numbers are declining for a variety of reasons.  Read on to find out more.

Which area has the most diverse housing stock?

Australian cities are typically low density, sprawling entities.  Separate houses are the most common dwelling type in Australia, comprising 71% of all dwellings in 2016.  In recent years, more dense forms of housing, such as flats, townhouses and villas, have become increasingly common.  This has increased the diversity of housing stock in many parts of our cities, and the dominance of the separate house is eroding.  Over the next couple of weeks I'll be looking at measures of housing diversity in metropolitan Melbourne.

Population growth in and around Canberra

Recently the ACT Government released the 2018 ACT Planning Strategy - essentially Canberra's metropolitan planning strategy.  From a population and housing perspective, the main goals are to curb the amount of outward urban expansion.  The strategy also recognises Canberra's role not only as the nation's capital, but as an important regional centre for surrounding parts of NSW.  The release of the strategy provides an opportunity to look at spatial patterns of growth in Canberra and surrounding parts of NSW, because let's face it - urban and regional planning should transcend administrative boundaries.

Australia has some of the biggest houses in the world

It's often said that Australia builds some of the largest houses in the world.  In the second half of the twentieth century the growth of suburbs dominated by separate houses on large blocks has contributed to urban sprawl.  In many ways it's ironic that although contemporary planning policies seek to address these issues eg through smaller block sizes on the urban fringe and increased densities in established areas, house sizes remain large.  What data illustrates these trends?

Midland infill - what happens now?

I recently wrote a blog about the role of infill development in the established parts of Australian cities.  The example of Laverton, in Melbourne's western suburbs was used.  It showed that despite the incremental nature of infill development, it plays an important role in adding to the dwelling stock.  However the supply of land available for infill is constrained, both by the individual decisions of home owners and the planning scheme.  What happens when a suburb has been infilled?  This blog will consider the example of Midland, an established suburb in Perth's north east.

Laverton housing trends - the role of infill

In established suburbs of Australian cities, infill development is a often major source of new housing supply.  Infill development is incremental and is typically takes the form of older, inferior stock on larger blocks being demolished and replaced with townhouses, villas and the like.  In some suburbs, particularly those that developed in the immediate post war period and are close to train lines, infill development is transforming the housing supply and increasing population levels.  Laverton, in Melbourne's western suburbs, is such an example.