{"id":8119,"date":"2016-06-01T10:00:11","date_gmt":"2016-06-01T00:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/realestatetalk.com.au\/?p=8119"},"modified":"2016-06-01T10:00:11","modified_gmt":"2016-06-01T00:00:11","slug":"how-things-have-changed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/channels.realty.com.au\/realtytalk\/how-things-have-changed\/","title":{"rendered":"How things have changed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new report says that most Australians have identified a 4 bedroom\/2bathroom home as their ideal property.\u00a0\u00a0 So how does that compare to the homes of our parents and even our grandparents?\u00a0\u00a0 Bernard Salt<\/strong> says what were considered luxuries for our parents in terms of housing was 3 bedrooms and an indoor toilet.\u00a0 My how things have changed.
\nTranscript:<\/strong>
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Gee, we have seen house styles change over the years, haven\u2019t we? I reflect back on my parents\u2019 house and even my grandparents\u2019 house and how the yards are getting smaller but the houses are changing. I was driving around some of the areas just last weekend looking at some of these more contemporary homes, and it got me wondering about Australia\u2019s current favorite house versus the homes of our parents and our grandparents.
\nA report is out saying most Australians have identified that a four-bedroom, two-bathroom <\/b>home is their ideal property. It got me thinking about how that compares to the homes of our parents and our grandparents. Joining me to discuss this, Bernard Salt \u2013 demographer, futurist, and commentator, and also from KPMG.
\nHi, Bernard. Have these things changed much over the years?
\nBernard:<\/b>\u00a0 Hi, Kevin. No, in fact, our housing styles and preferences have changed mightily over the generations. What our parents considered luxurious, we would consider to be quite basic. I can remember in the 1960s living in country Victoria when the sewerage went through <\/b>was a big deal to actually have a toilet inside the house as opposed to having an outside toilet.
\nAt that stage, the three-bedroom brick veneer with one bathroom and an inside toilet was considered to be the height of luxury. That was the pinnacle of the suburban dream for Australians, whereas today we\u2019ve lifted the bar quite considerably. What we expect as a basic standard of living has, in fact, skyrocketed in a generation.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Now, it\u2019s not a matter of whether the toilet is inside; it\u2019s a matter of how many toilets we have inside.
\nBernard:<\/b>\u00a0 In fact, that\u2019s correct. Now, it\u2019s four bedrooms, two bathrooms. Back in the 1950s and the 1960s, where it was three bedrooms, one bathroom, there were probably four kids \u2013 or more \u2013 so you might have the boys in one bedroom in bunk beds and the girls in another bedroom, and you\u2019d have one bathroom shared amongst five, six, or seven people in a house.
\nToday, it\u2019s four bedrooms, and the number of kids has shrunk to two, so each kid gets a bedroom, the parents get a bedroom, and there is a spare bedroom, and there are two bathrooms. Really, this is not the minimum, but is certainly what most Australians \u2013 certainly out in suburbia \u2013 would aspire to.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Of course, we\u2019ve seen the blocks of land reduce in size and the houses go up to two levels, so the houses have gotten bigger on smaller blocks of land, as well, Bernard.
\nBernard:<\/b>\u00a0 This is very much the case. I suppose it\u2019s the land component that is the expensive part. In fact, it\u2019s halved. A quarter-acre block is about 1000 square meters. Today, if you go to the edge of Brisbane, Sydney, or Melbourne, you\u2019ll have some land packages typically around 500 square meters. We\u2019re building houses on an eighth of an acre \u2013 and even less in some places \u2013 but the house has doubled if not tripled in size.
\nI think this is partly because if you go back a generation, there would have been a veggie patch, there would have been a chook shed, there would have been an incinerator \u2013 can you believe it, people used to burn stuff in their back yards \u2013 a compost heap, places for a trailer, or a few fruit trees, It was almost an era of self-sufficiency, whereas today with both parents working, you don\u2019t really have the time to actually tend a garden as such. It\u2019s just easier and more convenient to buy it at the supermarket.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Of course, many things have impacted these changes, among them being technology. The television has now become the media room. And even as you mentioned earlier about the toilet coming inside, all of these things are advancements, and it\u2019s changed the Australian dream for a home, hasn\u2019t it? It\u2019s evolved.
\nBernard:<\/b>\u00a0 It has indeed. The back yard is no longer a back yard; it\u2019s another room, in fact, to be prettied and to be organized. The barbeque area has come back up onto the deck, which we now call al fresco.<\/i> It\u2019s indoor\/outdoor. I don\u2019t think there is a television room anymore because I think there is a screen in pretty much every room \u2013 greater flexibility and fluidity of usage around the home.
\nI think that the kitchen is actually merging with the lounge room, so if you were sitting on a sofa, for example, there will be cup holders. You have the kitchen functionality invading the living room or the family room. Our houses are much more fluid than they once were. Instead of dedicated spaces, there are multi-purpose spaces, and every individual in the house gets far more individual space or private space.
\nIf you\u2019re one of four boys in a bedroom \u2013 as I was; I grew up with three brothers in two bunk beds \u2013 there was no privacy and you had to wait your turn for the bathroom, of course. That\u2019s a very different lifestyle to the lifestyle we enjoy today.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 You talking there about outdoor al fresco areas, Bernard. I remember one of the great things in our home was when Dad built one of those Besser block barbeques out the back, but now they are full-on entertainment areas, aren\u2019t they?
\nBernard:<\/b>\u00a0 They are full-on entertainment areas. There will be sinks, there will be mini bars, there will be a [5:31 inaudible]<\/b> as well as a six-burner barbeque. And then it will be on a deck or an al fresco terrace overlooking manicured lawns with box hedging and whatever.
\nThe old days of a bit of a back yard with back yard cricket \u2013 well, there are fewer kids per household, there are fewer kids in the neighborhood, so you can\u2019t really put together an impromptu game of cricket, anyway. And besides, the desire to play cricket, football, or netball is met these days not so much by an impromptu street game but in fact by organized after-school sport. So if you have everything organized after school, then you don\u2019t need that space in the back yard. That, I think, is the logic.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Bernard, do you think it\u2019s likely that Australia\u2019s fascination with huge houses and multiple living spaces is going to continue, or are we becoming more miserly and more frugal as a nation?
\nBernard:<\/b>\u00a0 I think there is a backlash in some areas where there are people who are seeking out smaller, more efficient spaces. That\u2019s clearly a movement. But I think that the mainstream of Australia will still want four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and possibly even more in the future.
\nI think if you could magically transport a four-bedroom, two-bathroom home back to the 1950s and say, \u201cWell, this is how average Australians will be living in the year 2016,\u201d they would say, \u201cWell, that\u2019s far too much space. It\u2019s wasteful.\u201d This was a generation that would have remembered the Great Depression and fought in the Second World War.
\nEqually, if you go forward to, say, 2050, I think we would be quite shocked at the level of materialism, space, privacy, and communications technology that would be in the family home in 20 or 30 years\u2019 time. Every generation feels comfortable with their space, their time, their housing, but these things do change over time.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 A fascinating subject and I wish we could project ourselves 20 or 30 years down the track, Bernard. As you say, I guess we probably would be horrified at the sheer waste.
\nBernard:<\/b>\u00a0 The sheer waste, but I imagine also at the cost. I have no idea what a house is going to cost at that time. It would also be great insight to know which are going to be the hottest suburbs in every city and which ones are going to go through the greatest transformations. So this was a down-and-out suburb back in the old days of 2016 and then it went through this great transformation. Which are those suburbs? That\u2019s the greatest insight in property perhaps.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Yes, I think I\u2019d much rather look at what are going to be the burgeoning areas as opposed to how we\u2019re going to be living in 30 years\u2019 time. I think I\u2019d become a lot more wealthy by knowing that, Bernard, that\u2019s for sure.
\nBernard:<\/b>\u00a0 That\u2019s true. Or understanding what drives us, whether it\u2019s new technology, whether it\u2019s new infrastructure, whether it\u2019s just the invasion of a particular social group. Who are going to be the hipsters of the 2020s and 2030s? They might be the Techsters \u2013 as in the technology people. Who knows? That\u2019s the fascinating part about demography. It can convert into property and the trends.
\nKevin:<\/b>\u00a0 Yes, the wonderful part of what you do. Bernard Salt \u2013 demographer, futurist, and commentator from KPMG.
\nThank you so much for your time, Bernard.
\nBernard:<\/b>\u00a0 My pleasure.
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new report says that most Australians have identified a 4 bedroom\/2bathroom home as their ideal property.\u00a0\u00a0 So how does that compare to the homes of our parents and even our grandparents?\u00a0\u00a0 Bernard Salt says what were considered luxuries for our parents in terms of…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176692471,"featured_media":8120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,21,22,27],"tags":[101],"class_list":["post-8119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buying-a-property-topic","category-renovation-topic","category-research-topic","category-trends-topic","tag-podcast"],"yoast_head":"\nHow things have changed - Realty Talk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/channels.realty.com.au\/realtytalk\/how-things-have-changed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How things have changed - 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