Can this $1 house design help solve the Australian housing crisis?

7NEWS

19-07-2025

When you think of the great Australian dream, it's likely you picture a freestanding house.
But as governments look to boost the amount of homes available, new visions of what that dream could look like are diversifying.
This week, the NSW government launched the NSW Pattern Book of low and mid-rise designs, alongside an accelerated planning pathway, designed to speed up the delivery of new homes significantly.
And for a limited time these designs are available for a mere $1.
"This Pattern Book is about giving people more choice, faster approvals, and affordable, high-qualityhomes-whether you're a young person trying to get in, a family needing more space, or a downsized looking to stay close to the community you know," NSW Premier Chris Minns said at the launch.
The scheme seems to me to have all the building blocks, pardon the pun, to get Australians on board with a dwelling style that is higher density, but still fits into our suburban dream.
All up there are three styles of residential buildings that are available in the eight designs approved by the government architect.
They are townhouses, terraces and manorhouses.
What's old is new again
While townhouses and terraces are easily recognised styles, the manor house is an interesting concept.
Conrad Johnston, the director of architecture firm Studio Johnston, which created one of the selected manor house designs, said that they took inspiration from a style of unit blocks that already exist.
"Our design reimagines the classic 'four- or six-pack' apartment buildings of the Interwar period with modern living standards and sustainability," Mr Johnston said.
Manor Homes are just two storeys and contain four apartments.
It seeks to be the answer to the "missing middle" - the shortfall of low and mid-rise housing options that sit between the typical detached house and high-rise apartments, according to Mr Johnson.
While this is a particularly acute issue in major capital cities such as Sydney and Melbourne, it is also very much a concern for major centres and regional cities such as Newcastle and Wollongong in NSW and Ballarat and Bendigo in Victoria.
"Many people want to live in well-connected suburbs, close to jobs and services, but the traditional suburban model just isn't sustainable at our current densities," Mr Johnston says.
"Manor Homes 01 is about adding gentle density and creating homes that people genuinely want to live in."
Why I know this works
Full disclosure here, I live in one of those six-pack style inter-war apartment blocks that Mr Johnston refers to, and the advantages of this scale of building are not lost on me.
My street is a mix of freestanding homes, along with these smaller apartment blocks, and they do not jar or overwhelm, but sit harmoniously together.
Similar to the suburban property that so many of us are familiar with, there is a dedicated front and back yard.
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Yes these garden areas are shared but that leads to beautiful shared moments. For example children from different apartments meeting together to play in their backyard.
That garden is also a great common area for people to host family and friends in the barbecue and dining area, giving them access to a large suburban-sized yard.
The smaller number of apartments in a human-sized block creates a strong sense of community with residents, while also allowing privacy.
Admittedly, these original apartments lack somewhat in capturing light and airflow, for example. However, a few key renovation fixes that.
A modern approach
The manor houses available n the pattern book, including Manor Homes 01 have been designed to prioritise sustainability and provide good access to sunlight and clean air.
Passive solar design, cross-ventilation, daylight access, sun-shading and the potential for rooftop solar panels are all at the forefront.
Efficient planning and simple construction systems help to contain costs, ensuring the design remains an achievable solution for diverse sites and developers.
"Our goal was to create a pattern that's elegant, liveable, and replicable," Johnston explains.
They are also designed to fit in with various streetscapes with flexibility in material choices,colour palettes, and dwelling mixes.
Making it happen
While the concept of these new home designs is good, making sure they are taken up and therefore increase housing supply, delivery is important.
For the first six months, the NSW government is significantly subsidising access to these designs with each pattern being made available to everyone for $1 per pattern.
After that time they will still be available at a very reasonable $1000 a design.
The price for each design is a significant discount on the professional fees that potential builders or homeowners would usually pay for a custom architecturally designed home. That could be estimated to cost over $20,000.
Every purchase of a design, also comes with a complimentary Landscape Pattern to help new home-owners design their own garden that maximises biodiversity and suits the climate they're living in.
Most importantly a new ten-day approval pathway has been developed by the NSW Government alongside the Pattern Book to fast-track these high-quality homes, cutting major costs and delays that normally plague home-builders.
It is designs like these that might help us rethink the great Australian dream.