Are larger homes becoming even more attractive to buyers?

If four or five bedrooms and extra living space sounds appealing after a year of lockdowns, home schooling and working from the kitchen table, you’re not alone.

In many households across Melbourne, staying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic meant a daily battle to find space to work or study in peace – or even to simply eat, relax and play.

Meanwhile, between March and October 2020, year-on-year growth in searches for four- and five-bedroom homes in Melbourne outpaced searches for one- to three-bedroom homes on realestate.com.au.

Nerida Conisbee, chief economist at realestate.com.au, says there’s no question that there’s a link between the two.

“Without a doubt, it’s the fact that everyone’s been stuck in lockdown,” she says.

Interest in four-bedroom-plus homes peaked in June when Melbourne was facing into a second round of restrictions on leaving home. In fact, searches shot up 41% year-on-year, compared with a 31% rise for one- to three-bedders. In July, the trend continued with searches for the larger homes up 24% year-on-year compared to 17% for one- to three-bedders.

After a slowdown in searches across both groups in August and September, there was an October surge as lockdown was heading towards the finish line. Four-bedroom-plus searches leapt 32% year-on-year, this time compared to 20% for one- to three-bedders.

A continuing trend

While the Melbourne lockdowns spiked searches, Conisbee says larger homes have long been popular with Australian buyers.

“When we look at the types of properties that people are most engaged in on realestate.com.au, they do tend to like a bigger home,” she says.

According to the most recent Census data, the average Australian home has three bedrooms, but Conisbee says there’s a tendency for people to want to upgrade in size with each purchase.

“They want some extra space, whether it’s for additional children, or a study, or storage, or guest rooms,” she adds.

A recent CommSec Home Size Trends report  shows that the size of new-build houses and apartments in Australia grew in the 2019/20 financial year. It reported that the average was 235.8 sqm, a 2.9% rise on the previous year and the biggest increase in 11 years.

Conisbee says big homes will stay in focus, particularly as the pandemic has significantly changed how people work.

“Most people probably won’t go back into the office everyday anymore, so that means having a bigger home is far more valuable,” she says.

Space for all

The attraction of a larger home comes down to having ample space and stress-free living for the whole family, says Sarah Bloom, general manager development at Frasers Property Australia.

“If you’re spending more time in your home, which people obviously were in lockdown, you’re more conscious of having separate spaces, such as having two living areas if you’ve got all of your kids at home,” she says.

Study nooks located near the kitchen have been popular in recent years, proving a space to put the laptop and to keep an eye on the kids doing their homework. These are still in demand, says Bloom, but there’s been a renaissance in requests to also have a dedicated study.

“With four or five bedrooms, it provides flexibility to the purchasers to have a study or some other kind of recreational space, so that’s pretty attractive to people,” Bloom says.

Having spacious indoor-outdoor living areas is also popular, as it means the family can cook, eat and relax with each other with ease. Larger homes also allow members from different generations to live together, such as grandparents through to grandchildren, while still having some independence.

“The key factors when buying a new home are modern design, a family friendly layout, integrated indoor-outdoor spaces, flexible floor plans and additional rooms,” Bloom says.

Snapping up size

The popularity of larger homes was recently emphasised at the new Burwood Brickworks development in Burwood East, Victoria, developed by Frasers Property Australia.

The Park Crescent Home release of 32 four- and five-bedroom-homes sold within two weeks. The properties were designed by DKO and were priced between $1,180,000 and $1,538,000.

A final offer of 20 three- and four-bedroom homes at Burwood Brickworks will be released for sale in early 2021. It’s the last opportunity to buy into the established community, which has a supermarket, cinema, shops, childcare, cafes and expansive green spaces on site.

All pictures courtesy of Frasers Property Australia.