Why apartments should not be smaller than 60 square metres

Ideally for mine, one-bedroom apartments should be no smaller that 60 to 65 square metres (including balcony) and two-bedroom apartments no smaller than 85 to 90 square metres gross.

Australians are increasingly showing a preference for smaller units, but in a perfect world the one-bedroom stock would be about 70 square metres and two-bedders about 100 square metres.  But perfect worlds these days are rare indeed.

I don’t really like – nor do I think they will rent as well many such off-the-plan developments current advocate – the current trend towards extremely tight two-bedroom apartments.  These are often the size of a one-bedroom apartment (i.e. under 70 square metres).  So apartments can be too small.

Also for mine, when looking to buy a new apartment – apart for price, size (apartments + overall development), location, quality and development team pedigree – buyers should also be very critical of design.  Important things when it comes to apartment design/inclusions include:

• galley kitchen
• separate bedrooms (both with direct natural light)
• equal ensuites
• wardrobe space
• linen store
• separate laundry
• study nook
• ceiling height
• air-conditioning, ducted preferred
• parking provisions, including visitors

See, you just cannot fit all the important stuff into a shoe box.

Michael Matusik is the founder of Matusik Property Insights, which has helped over 550 new residential projects come to fruition.  Read Michael's blog or follow him on Twitter or connect via LinkedIn.

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