Where in NZ are our biggest homes?

Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

New Zealand's largest homes can be found in some of our newest subdivisions, many of them in city fringe locations, new research has revealed.

The Selwyn District west of Christchurch is, by district, home to some of our largest homes, covering an average area of 181.3 m2, more than 30m2 bigger than the national average.

QV said the bulk of the homes in the district could be found in Rolleston, 22 kilometres south west of Christchurch, while Prebbleton, Lincoln and Leeston accounted for almost another third.

"These areas have quite a high proportion of new housing developments, and the larger size of these houses will be pulling up the average size," he said.

The Queenstown Lakes District was next on the list, while Auckland's North Shore, the Rodney District and Tauranga, also featured in the top five.

"Completing the top 10 are Kapiti Coast District where larger houses in Paraparaumu Beach and Waikanae pull up the average, and Waimakariri District pulled up by the larger houses in Rangiora and Kaiapoi."

The Chatham Islands, where the average size of a home in the district is 110m2, is home to some of our smallest houses, according to the research.

Quotable Value said those districts with some of New Zealand's smallest homes, also tended to be located in rural areas.

At suburb level, the influence of larger modern homes was more evident, QV said.

Five of the top ten suburbs were in the Auckland area, with Shamrock Park in southeast Auckland claiming the mantle of having the largest homes (an average 306 m2) by suburb.

The suburb is dominated by larger houses built in the last twenty years, QV said.

All the other suburbs on the list were dominated by large modern houses built in the last couple of decades, often in new subdivisions.

The exception was Lowry Bay, a long established affluent suburb north of Eastbourne in the Eastern Bays of Wellington Harbour.

Arthur's Pass National Park has the smallest average house size of only 74 m2.

The majority of the other suburbs in the bottom 10 were in areas with small holiday houses or baches, QV said.

"Clearly the age of houses has a strong bearing on their size, suggesting that newer houses are larger than older ones," QV said.

Top 10 by district

* Selwyn District 181.3m2
* Queenstown Lakes 181m2
* Auckland, North Shore 176m2
* Auckland, Rodney 164m2
* Tauranga 162m2
* Wellington city 159m2
* Auckland city 158.3m2
* Hamilton city 158m2
* Kapiti Coast 158.2m2
* Waimakariri 156.3m2