Sounds like the "Outback" refers to the median Ozzie's backyard. 

Please don't get me started. As a family of nine we grew up 'cozy' in a 12sq home in Melbourne (Oz). Today 2 adults & 1.5 kids (how do they split kids?) is a 2 storey with a mausoleum front and - get this - NO EAVES!!! (Common sense died a long time ago)

30 years ago in Ireland the norm in the country was 5 kids in a 2 bedroom cottage now it is 2 kids in a 5 bedroom bungalow with obligatory sunroom for the one day of summer in the year.

Median can be extremely misleading as all it means are half are bigger and half are smaller. You need to look at average as well, this is the more indicative number when it comes to conspicuous consumption, and I am betting the US leads the world on that one.

It's the average of all existing housing stock.

Yes, half are bigger...half are smaller...that's what 'average' means.

Oz has far fewer units/flats/appartments than most other places....hence the size of the AVERAGE ...

My local coucillor lives in a 12 bedroom, two storey house that's easily the size of four average suburban homes.  I quipped that it was a mighty big house when he was electioneering for the Labor Party during the last federal election, and he quipped: "Sure is, I haven't seen half the rooms in over a year.

The excesses of the rich, eh!  He lives there with just his wife... nobody else.

What really got me was the house my son showed me... he does concrete floor sealing and did the floors there.  Three storeys cut into a hillside; the gound floor 8 times bigger than the (average sized house) I'm in; a kitchen big enough to service a medium sized hotel; a lounge room the size of a small cinema; 16 bedrooms with ensuite on the second floor; also on the second floor, a TV room, study and (second) laundry facilities; and a master bedroom with ensuite, walk in robes, powder room and study that takes up the entire third floor.

Outside: full-sized tennis court; a half-sized olympic pool; a stable to accommodate up to a dozen horses... and a six bedroom guest house.

Anyone wanna hazard a guess as to what kind of person who'll be living there???  A clue: one of my least favourite professions next to politician.

An Ex-Politician?

Nope!  Another clue: this profession likes to spend other peoples money and give itself huge, undeserved bonuses.

still sounds like a politician......

Home sizes have been growing here since the 50's. Some of the older subdivisions have SF lots that are 50'x100' and local governement now requires you to purchase 2 to build 1 home. When I was a kid most "tract home subdivisions" were 2 or 3 bdr homes between 750 SF and 900 SF. I don't think you could find a subdivision done in the last 20 years with a minimum floor area of less then 1200 SF (and that would likely be HUD housing) The "norm" for new subdivisions is a minimum lot size of 100'x150' with 35% max FAR as a base.

Oh! A Bankertician!

  Gotta pay that one, bud.

 congress?

As near as what f**k is to cussing.

Yup, sure have... especially when you consider how many bankers have ties to polytishuns.

Yup, them bastards, too!  They're all a pack of lies short of being honest.  

Ours is 1600 sq. ft. on 1/2 acre.  Too much to take care of these days.

Hey! How about each country build one huge house.....with lots of bedrooms....a huge kitchen/cafeteria....common area...oh...and lots a bathrooms...loos...outhouses...or whatever you call them and leave enough space for a back yard. I mean really....everyone is so much into excese why not just go all out and use up all the land already....maybe it will finally push us over the edge and the planet can shake us off like a bad case of fleas.

That's gonna happen anyway. In terms of geological epochs, what is a century?

To the planet, that's what mankind is.... fleas.   That's because mankind, through it's greed, has taken from the planet all it can without due care or putting anything back... like any other parasite.

The planet has already begun to fight back... and mankind's days are numbered.

And just maybe, just maybe this global warming is not man-made.... but nature's flea collar.