Australians buying new homes are m space race

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32659, 15 July 1971, Page 7

Australians buying new homes are m space race

(By

JOHN HANAPIN)

SYDNEY. Australians are in the “space rice” when it comes to buying a new house, but they are still very much “down to earth.” This is the opinion of two Sydney building whose designs for project houses have won awards granted by the New South Wales State chapter of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects.

The one thing Australians want in their new home more than anything else is space ‘ —and plenty of it. They are not interested in dishwashers, rubbish-disposal units, or any other gadgets, I and they are not impressed | by fancy bathrooms. They I will “blast-off,” however, I over the space issue. | Statistics show that some '7O per cent of Australians either own or are paying off their homes. CAREFUL CONSIDERATION “This makes the Australian! a very keen home buyer by] any standard but he considers everything' very carefully," said Mr R. Sevitt, marketing director for the project builders Pettit' and Sevitt. Pettit and Sevitt won the i 1970 and 1971 awards fort: their basic-model, three-bed-L room house costing under < SAIO.OOO. They called it the I 3136 H because they have an aversion to exotic names for 1 their houses. An enlarged! 1

version of the model, called the 3136H3, also won the 1971 award for houses in the SAIO.OOO to 5A13.000 range. “We have found that, unlike the Americans, Australians are not interested in luxuries in their homes—st least not at the start,” Mr Sevitt said.

“They want a basic goodquality home with plenty of room. They add the luxuries later as they can afford them.”

His company had tried to improve their houses by adding items such as dishwashers and rubbish-disposal units but buyers invariably deleted them in preference for more space.

Pettit and Sevitt would now like to dispense with (laundries and build bigger closets hi kitchens to contain clothes washers and dryers, as the Americans do. Mr Sevitt said, however, that Australian home buyers lliked to have a laundry and

had not shown any inclination to change their habits. SOME LUXURY Civic Constructions, the project home builders who won awards for the $A13,000 to $A16,000 range and the category above 5A16.000. also attribute much of their success to the home buyers* demand for space. “One of the top priorities laid down by the managing director (Mr C. S. Cullen) Is “adequate space in all rooms.” The Civic Constructions winners were tri-level homes offering maximum space at minimum cost. ‘‘We also try to provide some measure of luxury," Mr .Cullen said. .

The company's award-win-ning X 3 model, for example, sells for the basic price of 5A15.295 but it has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a separate study. Built in brick veneer, it futures generous use of Californian Red-

wood ceilings with exposed Oregon beams. Civic's other award-winner is the X2, a full brick fourbedroom house selling for the basic price of $A18,666. Covering 15) squares, the X2 also has two bathrooms and generous Californian Redwood features plus courtyards and an optional "retreat” to cater for sunlovers. ’Both houses have large family rooms featuring a tar area for entertaining. The photograph shows Pettit and Sevitt’s awardwere announced, ft wits selling for the basic price of SAMSO but increased labour costs have now increased this to EA10450. The house has three bedrooms, living and dining rooms, and kitchen and bathroom. The carport (left foreground) is an optional extra.