What about Malaysia? How much space does a couple need for a comfortable home? 500 sq ft? One room, one bathroom and a cosy living area?
What about a family of four? An affordable 900 sq ft with three rooms, two bathrooms and a cosy living room?
The image shows where Malaysia stands when it comes to average house sizes among selected countries in the Asean region. Malaysia comes in first in terms of size.
The sizes of homes in Cambodia are only one-third of those in Malaysia. The average size of homes in Singapore and Thailand are also smaller by 100-200-plus sq ft.
When it comes to historical numbers, average home sizes have always been hovering above 1,500 sq ft for the past few years. 2018 was the first year that the average size of homes dropped to 1,264 sq ft.
When you take into account what the Housing and Local Government or KPKT Minister announced, the average size of homes will continue to drop.
Imagine 1,000,000 new affordable homes at mostly below 1,000 sq ft over the next 10 years or 100,000 units per year.
For those who don’t know, the median price of a home in Sydney is over AUD1 million.
Then, why is the average size of homes in Australia still big? That’s because all newer homes are being built in the suburbs rather than within the city centre.
When built away from the city, the sizes of homes are larger. Therefore, the average size of homes remains huge.
However, as soon as you’re in the city centre, high-rise units aren’t over 2,500 sq ft as you see in the graphics above.
The size of the average Malaysian home however is among the top 10 largest in the world.
If you look at the MRT coverage, you can afford to stay further away from the city centre, and that will help increase the average size of homes in Malaysia too.
This article first appeared in kopiandproperty.com
Charles Tan blogs at property investment site kopiandproperty. He dislikes property speculators and disagrees that renting is better than buying. He thinks it’s either property or poverty. He is presently the CEO of an auction house auctioning assets beyond just properties.