AUSTRALIANS are living in houses that would be considered under-utilised by international standards, adding more bedrooms to their homes despite fewer occupants.
The average number of bedrooms has climbed from 2.5 to 3 from 2001 to 2011, while occupancy per house has slipped from 2.8 to 2.6, figures reveal.
Housing can no longer be simply regarded as a "place of shelter'', says social researcher Mark McCrindle, who believes the upsize trend is a result of homes becoming status symbols and "multi-generational''.
"Look at how long children stay at home, and we have an ageing population with only one in 10 people aged over 65 moving into retirement villages,'' Mr McCrindle said.
"We have an expectation that every kid has their own bedroom, and we use our homes for more things in terms of lifestyle. We're getting more from our homes than 30 years ago.''
Mr McCrindle said 100 years ago Australia's average household size was 4.5 people, but modern-day homes were more about social trends than demographic changes. Household sizes continue to fall, although demographic and real estate experts expect this trend to stabilise or reverse.
The number of bedrooms per house in Australia jumped from 2.6 to 3.1 between 2001 and 2011.
Australia's average household size in 2011 was 2.6 people, Bureau of Statistics data shows. It's the same as 2001 but down from 2.8 people in 1991.
He said it was likely that Australia's next census might show an increase in people living in each house as "multi-generational households'' became more popular.
He said four-bedroom homes were here to stay, and his research had found that for every person downsizing, twice as many were upsizing.
Real estate academic Peter Koulizos said the size of new homes had probably reached a plateau because people were not building as many McMansions.
"Through the good times from 2001 to 2010 people were building bigger homes with more bedrooms and living areas because they could,'' he said.
"A home is like a status symbol - the bigger the house the higher up the social ladder you are.
"The most popular-sized home is three bedrooms but four-bedroom homes won't become dinosaurs because people will find other uses for them. The five and six bedroom homes will become dinosaurs because we are not having as many kids.''
Mr Koulizos said home design trends were constantly changing.
"We got rid of the formal dining room because we discovered we were not using it. Preferences change.''
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