Sydney blocks have shrunk by an average of 62sqm since 2015 and the price per square metre has doubled, according to the Housing Industry Association’s (HIA) Residential Land Report.
The amount lost in average block size is about a quarter of a doubles tennis court, or roughly the living space of an average one-bedroom apartment, like this unit in Marrickville.
The median lot size across Australia’s capitals has shrunk almost everywhere over the last decade. Source: HIA Residential Land Report
As with shrinkflation in supermarket items, Sydney lots have not only gotten smaller but more expensive.
The price of Sydney land per sqm has more than doubled since 2015, rising from $1,000 to $2,019.
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It’s not just the supermarket where Aussies are baring the brunt of shrinkflation. Picture: James Gourley/Getty Images
Sydney’s land shrinkflation problem was most recently highlighted by the $1.25m sale of a 110 sqm driveway in Newtown.
The median lot in Greater Sydney was $685,000 during the last quarter of 2025, according to HIA. That’s up from $409,000 a decade ago.
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This Newtown driveway recently sold for $1.25m.
Housing Industry Association chief economist Tim Reardon said the price of the typical new residential lot of land has risen more than three times faster than construction costs in Australia over the last 25 years.
“Since 2000, residential land prices have increased by more than 500 per cent,” he said.
“Over the same period, construction costs and the price of skilled labour increased by around 150 per cent.
“The long-run escalation in housing costs has been driven overwhelmingly by land.”
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HIA Chief Economist Tim Reardon. Picture: Tertius Pickard
Sydney lots have shrunk the most of any Aussie capital city since 2015.
Melbourne blocks have gotten 28sqm smaller, while lot sizes in Brisbane have actually increased by 56sqm in the last ten years.
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The price per sqm of land has doubled in every capital since 2015. Source: HIA Residential Land Report
The cost of land per sqm across all capitals other than Sydney and Hobart now sits at around the $1,000 mark, half that of the Harbour City.
The number of residential land sales in Sydney has more than halved over the last decade, according to HIA’s data.
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