real Talk by realestate.com.au
Aug 10, 2026 · 31 min · 10 segments
While traditional home design focused on simply bricks and mortar, modern home design prioritises feeling and wellbeing as a central theme of where you live. In partnership with Time & Place, we talk…
Tim PriceGuest
Sophie WhittakersGuest
Alice PiperHost
Talk me through the shift from house to home, because I wonder if people are actually buying differently or if we're just at a stage now where we're talking about things differently.
Buyers have definitely changed their approaches to what they're looking for in that acquisition.
Buyers are looking at that next step or that next purchase as something which is not a short-term, it's a long-term home.
They're really looking at, you know, how is this place going to adapt as I grow from whether it's as a young professional into family, into, you know, older kids and then I guess empty nesters.
So they're looking at all the elements of these projects and these designs and these apartments and saying, what do I get as part of this acquisition? And now that could be from a privacy point of view, a security point of view, and also could be from a wellbeing point of view.
And they're all important parts of, from a design point of view and from a developer's point of view, how we need to set up these projects.
That comes in both the internal parts of the apartment itself and the home in a materiality sense, in a functional sense, adaptability of those spaces, work from home, the capacity and joy, whether it's exercise or I guess as a refuge, a place to be calm versus the crowd of kids and how they're to live in that space and what facilities the building might have to push the kids into.
So whilst traditionally we might have had homes that were assessed on the number of bedrooms and scale and how big the backyard was and some of those sorts of things, I think price point for the average Australian is as critical as it has ever been.
But we are really focused on home design that actually creates better functionality and reflects the fact that owners now want to be able to utilize all of those spaces in a manner which suits their lifestyle more efficiently.
And look, I think there are just changing trends around finishes and colors and other things like this are always changing.
But I think there is definitely a movement back to adaptability and function in a more efficient space.
whether it's purchase cost, build cost, or maintenance cost, or cleaning cost, all those sorts of things.
So I think there has been a shift to bang for your buck, but also staying on edge or on trend, I guess, with the look and feel, but more so focused on that comfort factor and that functional factor than it's ever been.
Talk me through the shift from house to home, because I wonder if people are actually buying differently or if we're just at a stage now where we're talking about things differently.
Buyers have definitely changed their approaches to what they're looking for in that acquisition.
Buyers are looking at that next step or that next purchase as something which is not a short-term, it's a long-term home.
They're really looking at, you know, how is this place going to adapt as I grow from whether it's as a young professional into family, into, you know, older kids and then I guess empty nesters.
So they're looking at all the elements of these projects and these designs and these apartments and saying, what do I get as part of this acquisition? And now that could be from a privacy point of view, a security point of view, and also could be from a wellbeing point of view.
And they're all important parts of, from a design point of view and from a developer's point of view, how we need to set up these projects.
That comes in both the internal parts of the apartment itself and the home in a materiality sense, in a functional sense, adaptability of those spaces, work from home, the capacity and joy, whether it's exercise or I guess as a refuge, a place to be calm versus the crowd of kids and how they're to live in that space and what facilities the building might have to push the kids into.
So whilst traditionally we might have had homes that were assessed on the number of bedrooms and scale and how big the backyard was and some of those sorts of things, I think price point for the average Australian is as critical as it has ever been.
But we are really focused on home design that actually creates better functionality and reflects the fact that owners now want to be able to utilize all of those spaces in a manner which suits their lifestyle more efficiently.
And look, I think there are just changing trends around finishes and colors and other things like this are always changing.
But I think there is definitely a movement back to adaptability and function in a more efficient space.
whether it's purchase cost, build cost, or maintenance cost, or cleaning cost, all those sorts of things.
So I think there has been a shift to bang for your buck, but also staying on edge or on trend, I guess, with the look and feel, but more so focused on that comfort factor and that functional factor than it's ever been.
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