Mansions vs Maisonettes: How do house sizes differ around the world?

House sizes vary massively across the world, and what’s considered an average size in one city may be vastly different in another. So which cities, in the UK and across the globe, can you expect to find the biggest properties in?

To find out, the research team at CIA Landlords Insurance has analysed average house sizes in 30 of the UK’s most populous cities. They’ve also looked at this data on a global scale, to reveal how our homes compare with the rest of the world.

Norwich, Bournemouth, and Swansea top the leaderboard for the biggest average house size

The UK city with the largest average house size is Norwich, a vibrant yet historic city nestled in the heart of East Anglia.

Our research reveals that the size of a standard home in this historic city is 95.9 m2 and properties of this size typically cost homeowners £314,083.49, on average.

Although Norwich ranks best for overall house size, there are typically 2.41 people living in each home, which is more than in Bournemouth and Swansea, the two cities which complete the top three. This means that despite the larger size, Norwich households have less personal space than other locations, with each resident having 39.8 m2 to themselves.

The coastal town of Bournemouth ranks as the second-best UK city for overall house size with the average property being 95.5 m2 in size. However, less space means paying more in this city, the average price per m2 is £4,000 in Bournemouth compared to Norwich where prices for the same space are £3,274.

Swansea ranks third in the UK for having the best house size with residents having 41.1 m2 of space. Whilst this means people here have less space than those in Bournemouth they pay almost half the price – just £2,200 m2.

The table below shows the top 15 cities in the UK with the largest average house sizes:

Coventry is the UK city with the smallest average house size 

At the other end of the scale, the UK’s smallest houses can be found in Coventry, where the average home size is 72.4 m2 and costs £209,531.39 to buy. Although this is 23.1 m2 smaller than in Swansea, homes in Coventry are only around £300 cheaper (£209,834.47).

Leicester follows with Birmingham closely behind, with house sizes in these cities averaging 77.3 m2 and 79.7 m2 respectively.

Somewhat unsurprisingly, London also scores poorly for house sizes, ranking 20th overall. Properties in the fast-paced capital typically house 2.55 people, which is more than any other location we analysed with the average price per m2 being £12,247.

The table below shows the top 15 cities in the UK with the smallest average house sizes:

The average houses in Canberra are bigger than any other capital city in the world 

Canberra ranks number one in the world as the city with the biggest houses, with residents of Australia’s capital city enjoying 214 m2 of space on average.

Of course, a higher price tag comes hand in hand with the larger homes, with the average house in Canberra costing £1,102,493.76 overall or £5,151.84 per m2 in the city centre. 

Wellington, New Zealand ranks next with home sizes averaging 202 m2 and American’s capital, Washington, takes third place with 201 m2. Although homes are typically smaller by 1m2 in Washington, they are slightly more expensive, with the price to buy a city centre home here averaging £6,427.12 per m2. The equivalent in Wellington costs £6,212.57.

The table below shows the top 23 cities in the world with the largest average house sizes:

Our research reveals that there is no one-size-fits-all definition of an ‘average-sized house’ in the UK or internationally, with property sizes varying greatly from place to place. Internationally, Canberra tops the leaderboard for the largest average house size but looking at the UK alone, Norwich is the place to be for lovers of large living spaces. 

Now that you know which cities to find the biggest homes in, would you consider relocating to get more space for your money?

Sources and methodology:

We started with a seedlist of the UK’s 30 most populated cities and ranked them based on the following metrics.

• Average price to buy per m2
• Average space per resident per city (m2 in 2018)
• Average household size in UK cities
• Average house size per city (m2) – Multiplication of the average space in square metre per resident by average household size.
• Average price per house – Multiplication of average size of homes in the UK in square metres by average price per square metre.

Every city was assigned a weighted score for each metric which was combined to create an overall index score out of 10.

The same methodology was carried out for the global ranking using the following metrics:

• Average price to buy per m2
• Average price per house – Multiplication of average size of homes in the UK in square metres by average price per square metre.