Australians love their big houses, but not as much as they used to.
The average floor area of a new stand alone home shrunk to 231sqm in 2015/16, from almost 250sqm five years earlier.
This means the US has now overtaken Australia as the builder of the biggest homes in the world, CommSec research shows.
The average new house built in Australia is still 10 per cent bigger than 20 years ago and more than 30 per cent bigger than 30 years ago.
"But in recent years Australia has been building smaller homes and more apartments," Commsec said in a statment on Monday.
"Australians are re-assessing their needs."
Couples, small families and down-sizers are considering apartments on the basis of cost and easier access to "desirable" social amenities like cafes.
"There is less need for big four to five bedroom homes and it is clear across suburbia that consolidation continues to occur - homes being demolished and replaced with apartments, town houses and villas," CommSec says.
But at the same time, the average flat size has also shrunk.
In the last decade, the average apartment was around 140sqm, but now it's 130sqm.
Turning back to houses, Victorians are building the biggest in the nation at an average 241sqm, ahead of Queensland and NSW.
The smallest houses are being built in the ACT (181sqm) and Tasmania (188sqm).
Victoria is also leading Australian in flat size, with an average 134.7sqm.
