Apartment sizes – don’t be fooled.
So, you're in the market for a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment and you’re in research mode. The first piece of information you need is: What size is it?
1) Not all apartments are the same…
2) A good way for a selling agent to disguise small internal living areas is to give a total area. “This exquisite 90m2 apartment offers an amazing opportunity…..”.
As it turns out, this exquisite apartment measures 63m2 of living and 30m2 of balcony. If this apartment came across the Apartment Consulting desk, it would default to a score 2 out of 5 in the size category based on our table below.
In Brisbane a typical size of a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment is approximately 80m2 of internal living and 20m2 of outdoor balcony. If it’s less than 70m2 of internal living, beware! A common way for developers to divert the eye from small floor areas is offer highlights such as Miele appliances, timber style floors or marble look benchtops. These shiny additions will soon fade when you realise you need to move the couch each time you visit the toilet.
When researching apartment sizes don’t accept 1 single total area. For a proper comparison, you need to separate the apartment into 3 main areas: Internal living area, outdoor/ balcony area and car space areas. A good selling agent will have this information on hand.
Beware that any apartment under 50m2 of internal living area (1 bedroom etc) will raise alarm bells at the bank and you may not qualify for mortgage insurance. Always try to obtain the actual building plan where possible rather than the marketing brochure.
How our table works: The size of an apartment is scored appropriate to the bedroom and bathroom accommodation and is specific to the indoor living area. Particularly small or large outdoor areas will be considered, and the score adjusted accordingly with the same applying to car accommodation.