This question arose in conversation this evening. I went looking for an answer, and thought I’d post it here for posterity and future reference. I found a source from 2003 that says it’s about 1800 square feet.
In case you’re wondering, according to the CMHC, the average size of a Canadian house in 1945 was just over 800 square feet (where did they put the kids?). In 1975, it was 1075 square feet.
wader Very very interesting. I enjoy density stats too…
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Andrea I wonder if there are stats on how many house-owners rent out their basements and attics. I’ve discovered that most of the youngish house owners in Vancouver actually have more like 800-1200 square feet for their use, since they’ve rented out the basement. Also, attached garages, as opposed to those at the back of the yard, would be calculated in square footage.
That being said, my dad grew up in a family of eight and their house was about 900 square feet. My grandparents had a small bedroom and used the dining room for two of the boys, and then divided the master into two smaller rooms for three boys and one girl. My mom grew up in a family of seven and their house was about the same size. The parents got the smallest bedroom and the kids shared the master.
And people think I’m nuts for having a 20-lb one-year-old in a 2 bedroom downtown. People were far more crammed one or two generations ago.
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I have a totally unsubstantiated theory about that. With the ever increasing popularity of first television and now home PC’s for entertainment, people have been increasingly spending more time in their homes instead of being outside. In order to accommodate more bodies in the homes at any point in time floor space has had to increase to stop people from feeling like they are top of each other all of the time (to maintain family harmony or in other words to mitigate family violence).
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Mark There may be some truth to Daisy’s theory, but I think houses are bigger now because we enjoy greater socio-economic status than our parents and grandparents. Since we have more money, we want bigger and better.
I am frequently confused when deciphering square footage because sometimes the basement is included and often not (ie. 2 storeys). It is difficult to determine how big the house is when you’re not sure if the square-footage includes the basement. Is there any accepted rule on the determining square footage?
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Linda I’m wondering where CMHC published the information you used. I’d like to find that original source.
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Somayeh I am taking a course in U of C which in that we are conducting a research over what is the impact of phasing out the incadscent lamps and use CFL at residential sector. We are going to run a LCA model and this housing size data will be one of our input. I am trying to find the source of your info in CMHC or StatCan and wondering if you could give the weblink to your info. I can let you know the result of our study. Thanks.
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John According to Natural Resources Canada, in 2005 the average Canadian house size was about 125.7 m2 (1353 ft2) [excluding basements]. The source for this information is the Comprehensive Energy Use Database (it has a wealth of energy-related data) which is derived from a mixture of survey information (primarily from Statistics Canada) and NRCan’s internal energy end-use allocation models (specific to the residential, commercial and industrial sectors). Hope this helps.
Cheers,
John
Source: http://www.oee.nrcan.gc.ca/corporate/statistics/neud/dpa/tablestrends2/res_ca_1_e_2.cfm?attr=0
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Luna umm, i was just wondering, what is the average house like for teenagers in the northern community?
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