Australia’s Housing Industry Association’s (HIA) has reported that the number of two-storey homes being built across the country is on rise, as buyers seek more value for money from rising land prices.

“The number of double-storey houses is on the rise,” says the HIA’s chief executive of industry policy and media Graham Wolfe. “The opportunity to add considerable extra space to a smaller size residential block is appealing to larger families, for example, or families with more than one generation living in the same house.”

The HIA recently published a report that shows that more than 9,000 double-storey houses were built by Australia’s largest volume builders in the financial year from 2013 to 2014, up 12% on the previous year.

Wolfe adds that the proliferation of smaller lot sizes and continuing low mortgage interest rates mean that the number of double-storey houses being built in Australia is likely to increase further.