Housing crunch leaves Kiwis dreaming big in small spaces

  • 07/05/2017

New figures show Kiwis are opting for bigger homes with smaller outdoor spaces.

Look at any new suburb, and it's clear that the Kiwi "quarter acre dream" is now a bit of a squeeze.

House are bigger, sections are smaller, and experts are saying that we want from our "home sweet home" has had to change.

Lynn Cairney from Fusion Landscape Design says with current buyers, "the wish list is a lot bigger" as sections become smaller.  

"We have to develop ways and think laterally so we're multi-purposing," she told Newshub.

Data from Homes.co.nz shows the average size of a New Zealand house has ramped up from around 120 square metres prior to 1990, to 200 square metres today.

The change is most notable in Auckland, where the average size has grown 79 percent, from 124 to 222 square metres. 

Over that period of time the average section size has decreased from 693 to 518 square metres.

Plus, much of our time is now spent indoors. Where the kids might've been thrown out onto the swing in the backyard, in the past, it's now more likely they'll jump into the spare lounge and play on the Xbox.

But designers say outdoor activities can still be a part of growing up, if you think outside the box.

Ms Cairney says they have to adapt, adding in features like "climbing walls and sandpits that can be converted into little pop up tables and chairs". 

This proves that while the amount of land we live on might be smaller, we can afford to dream big when it comes to how we use it.

Newshub.