suburbs & affordability


ATTRIBUTE #3 - Suburbia tends to have large houses on large lots which is a contributing factor to house affordability issues.

Of course there are many factors that affect market costs, but one is clear : to put it simply, 'big' usually means expensive. With other variables equal, big land and big houses usually mean big prices. 



With the provision of a range of lot sizes including smaller lots, a range of prices are able to be offered. This almost never the case in traditional suburbia. Many local authorities have requirements of minimum land sizes that prevent a range of innovative affordable housing product from entering the market.

Shaping Suburbia puts the view that such restrictions prevent suburbs from providing some options for affordable and for key-worker housing.

In addition, having little variance in size of land and size of houses also means that suburbia caters only for one main market group. This results in poor social diversity and poor house affordability. 


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