Cassandra Macdonald grew up in a large family home on Sydney’s northern beaches. Now she lives in a 28-square-metre inner-city apartment and wouldn’t swap it.
While buying a studio in Sydney’s cosmopolitan Potts Point was a financial decision, Macdonald, a high school woodwork teacher, was also inspired by her time living in a campervan during a stint working regionally.
Cassandra Macdonald, a high school woodwork teacher, was inspired to try studio living after living in a campervan during a regional work stint. Credit:James Brickwood
“It was just very interesting to see how few possessions I needed,” she said of that time.
Some experts say that living smaller could be a salve for the housing crisis, particularly as younger people try to enter the highly competitive housing market.
“People’s expectations and ways of living are changing,” said Angus Gilfillan, a former major bank executive and now chief executive of mortgage broker Finspo. “And I think there is a bigger part to play for small apartments in this market.”
Macdonald, 34, prizes her Potts Point location for its walkability, with studio apartment living encouraging community.
Macdonald prizes Potts Point for its walkability. Credit:James Brickwood
“In a funny way, it almost forces you to go out in society,” she said. “You might go and get a coffee and sit somewhere, and you end up talking to people.”
“In a funny way, it almost forces you to go out in society,” Macdonald says of studio living. Credit:James Brickwood
Cost-consciousness was an appeal for Macdonald. She did the sums on buying a one-bedroom unit or something further afield, but felt that a studio represented better value for her needs.
She has become a serial studio buyer too. After refurbishing her first, she bought another, renovated it, put it on the market and recently sold it.
The apartment that Macdonald recently sold, before its redesign. Credit:Cassandra Macdonald
Now the apartment is full of creative design tweaks that create extra bench space and storage.
Macdonald put her design and woodwork skills to use when she renovated her recently sold Potts Point studio apartment. It was her second studio purchase. Credit:James Brickwood
Macdonald has bought a third Potts Point unit, which she plans to live in with her partner and reconfigure into a one-bedroom unit.
“We both feel confident that there will actually be more storage for us to put our items,” she said.
Adam Haddow, a partner at SJB Architects, who swapped a 200-square-metre apartment for a 67-square-metre two-bedroom house that he designed on a 30-square-metre block, said a smaller home made him more conscious of what he was bringing in.
Adam Haddow at the front of his Surry Hills home. Credit:Nick Moir
“If you’re walking down the street, you think, ‘oh, I’d love to buy that jacket’. You have to really think, ‘Well, do I really need it’,” he said.
Haddow said people had been “seduced into this idea that bigger is better”, but smaller footprint living was finding its supporters.
“You do go and use the parks. You do go to the library. You do join a local gym. And from that point of view, it means meeting more people, and you become more connected.”
The value of small apartments is that they cost less, he said.
“By designing things smarter and more efficient and with a smaller footprint, it makes them more affordable, which is really one of our big ambitions. How do we make great architecture affordable?”
Still, uncertainty over the property’s future selling price and whether there would be a potential buyer if it needed to be sold was a consideration for mortgages on smaller apartments, Gilfillan said.