Is there a right size for a home and how is that definition changing? Do families still aspire to live in a freestanding house on a quarter acre block in the suburbs or is our definition of The Great Australian Dream evolving due to financial realities and cultural influences? And what about older Australians? How many are still living in the old family home, long after the kids have moved on, in a house that is clearly too big for their needs?

Lucy Sutherland, Director of Insights and Trends at Temple & Webster has recently compiled a research paper called “The Future of Rightsizing in Australian Housing”, and argues that the traditional definition is definitely changing, but there is still considerable hesitation for many people to embrace higher density living.

In this episode of The Business of Ageing podcast, Lucy shares the findings of the report, discusses what “rightsizing” means to each generation and argues that you can determine someone’s satisfaction with the size of their home by the number of spare bedrooms they have.

At a time of ongoing housing affordability stress and a rapidly ageing population, this conversation is incredibly timely.

The Business of Ageing podcast has been produced by Shaun Alexander at Pluss Communities

Lucy Sutherland is the Director of Insights and Trends at Temple & Webster

You can download the full Future of Rightsizing report here