Great world cities 🏙️ Barcelona, Paris, New York, Singapore 🏙️ often romanticised as models of equity & accessibility. I'm fortunate to have visited all four; they are much denser, can be livelier & are, on average, better serviced than large sections of major Australian cities – at least in good areas.
I support the aspiration of trying to deliver more of that locally.
❔This made me curious about family sized offerings in average parts of these cities to learn what they are doing differently. Below are examples of newish apartments for sale, on the cheaper side, recently built or substantially renovated in the last 5 years.
💃🏻Barcelona 66m2 | 3🛏️, 2🛁, 6m2 POS, 0car | EU440k (AU710k) | $10.7k/m2 72m2 | 3🛏️, 2🛁, 6m2 POS, 1car | EU371k (AU600k) | $8.3k/m2
🥖Paris 76m2 | 3🛏️, 1🛁, 3m2 POS, 0car | EU558k (AU906k) | $12k/m2 88m2 | 3🛏️, 1🛁, 3m2 POS, 0car | EU899k (AU1,460k) | $16.6k/m2
🌭New York 73m2 | 3🛏️, 2🛁, 8m2 POS | US780k (AU1,140k) | $15.6k/m2 | Brooklyn 130m2 | 3🛏️, 2🛁, 4m2 POS | US1,500k (AU2,255k) | $17.3k/m2 | Harlem
🍜Singapore 43m2 (yes!) | 3🛏️, 1🛁, 0m2 POS | SG750k (AU833k) | $19.4k/m2 | built 1973 58m2 | 3🛏️, 3🛁, 0m2 POS | SG1,320k (AU1,470k) | $25.3k/m2
What is possible in #apartments in those cities which can't be done in Aus?
➡️Tiny internal area (43m2 3bed) – Design standards prevent "dog boxes" as described by a former Victorian Planning Minister Hon Richard Wynne ➡️Tiny kitchens/living areas – lifestyle of eating out more ➡️Narrow, small bedrooms – particularly secondary ➡️Deep living areas/kitchens – not permissible with amenity standards/BADS ➡️Single bathrooms in 3 bedroom units – possible, low market acceptance ➡️Tiny/non-existent private outdoor space/balconies – 12m2 minimum must be provided under VIC planning rules ➡️Optional lifts in mid-rise dwellings – not permissible due to accessibility requirements ➡️Zero cars – most areas don't allow this, and low market acceptance for larger apartments ➡️Simple building design (square, no articulation/fancy architecture), minimal setbacks – generally disliked by planners or not permitted ➡️No communal areas – requirement in Australia
🤔None of these world cities have "cheap", new family sized apartments – price is managed by allowing smaller dwellings, and delivering less amenity than in Australia. In fact, we seem to get quite good "bang for buck" in Australia given the size and relative amenity in our new apartments.
The problem remains that apartments are are still too expensive for a large proportion of new home buyers, and design rules prevent innovation on this front.
They don't represent value for buyers compared to detached homes or townhouses, which is why scale apartments will not solve #housingaffordability in Australia any time soon.