In Australian and New Zealand English, a quarter acre is a term for a suburban plot of land. Traditionally, Australians and New Zealanders aspire to own a 3- or 4-bedroom house or bungalow on a section of around a quarter of an acre (about 1,000 square metres), also known locally as the Australian Dream or the New Zealand dream. The land was frequently put to use with vegetable gardens, fruit trees, or lawns for family recreation.
The quarter-acre aspiration has changed in recent decades, with sub-divisions, infill housing, apartments, and townhouses becoming more common in large cities, and nearby lifestyle farming blocks becoming popular. Most "quarter-acre" sections are not exactly a quarter of an acre. With urban growth, properties tend to be smaller.
Famous quotes containing the words quarter and/or acre:
“Like the water, the Walden ice, seen near at hand, has a green tint, but at a distance is beautifully blue, and you can easily tell it from the white ice of the river, or the merely greenish ice of some ponds, a quarter of a mile off.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Now would I give a thousand furlongs of sea for an acre of barren ground, long heath, brown furze, anything.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)