According to an analysis of 2016 property prices by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the average house sold had a floor area of 104 metres squared. This is two-fifths the size of a tennis court.
Flats averaged at 49 metres squared – this is excluding corridors, hallways, landings and bathrooms. This space is four times bigger than a car parking space.
By combining houses and flats, the average property size was 90 metres squared. This is much smaller than new USA homes averaging 245 m² and slightly smaller than the EU average. Average property sizes in some EU countries are:
• Italy – 94 m²
• Spain – 99 m²
• Portugal – 106 m²
• Latvia – 63 m²
• Romania – 45 m²
• Greece – 89 m²
• Luxembourg – 131 m²
• Cyprus – 141 m²
Are our houses getting bigger?
New homes are larger than existing ones. The average new home sold in 2016 was 13 per cent bigger than the average existing home. New flats are also 17 per cent bigger than the average existing flat. The ONS also revealed that in the last three years, new flats have become 18 per cent larger, while new homes remained a similar size.
Image credit: Richard Croft / New homes off Hawthorn Avenue / CC BY-SA 2.0