Detached homes in the suburbs of Australia are no longer as popular as it was before as townhouses and apartments are gaining popularity especially for young families.
The housing market in Australia has been offering homes that are not what most people are looking for since most of them would be smaller, in poorer condition, not located in a convenient area and may even be less appealing, Architecture Au wrote.
New homes are marketed to first home buyers by the home building industry as they aim to stay in the business and to remain competitive. Home builder's standard approach is to offer different home designs for the consumers to choose from with over 100 designs for large builders and smaller number of selections for smaller operators.
On the consumer's side, the design cost of the structure is split among the number of each house built for a certain home design which saves the consumer around 10 percent of the upfront cost, but this will sacrifice one important factor for a home design which is the solar orientation.
Considering the correct solar orientation will allow a house to receive an amount of sunlight during the winter to keep it warm and shade it from excessive sunlight during summer. When designed this way, it also substantially reduce the energy that is required to heat and cool a home.
But home designs these days no longer consider solar orientation but would use smaller windows to achieve the minimum required energy rating. This type of houses will continue to emerge in Australia each year which may not be a good option for a home.
"Instead of offering 100 universal designs, why not offer 25 designs which are specifically developed for each quadrant of the compass? This could even begin as a smaller subset of their total offering, specifically targeting those who want a properly-oriented home," Michael Smith of Domain wrote. He added that the consumer can still save by splitting the amount to among the number of each house built.
With this, the design of the house can have windows that are facing north to acquire better daylight exposure that may help lower their energy bills. On the other hand, it can also benefit builders since they will be offering homes that is right for the client, thus achieving a high rate of customer satisfaction.
