American Homes Are Getting Smaller

Seriously?  McMansions are on the wane? 

The trends seem to suggest that, yes, it's true.  The median size of new houses in the U.S. shrank last year, reversing a decades-long trend. And this year,  the trend continues, with houses nearly 200 square feet smaller than two years ago.  Average new home size in the U.S. peaked in 2007 at 2521 square feet.  And though home sizes are on the decline, U.S. homes are still much larger than those in Germany and France (1200 square feet) and in England (900 square feet). 

Is America ready to trade off more private space for better public space?  And if so, are urban leaders ready to respond?

  

joshuadf, October 15, 2009

NPR did a good feature on big houses a couple years ago: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525283 The strangest part is that this all happened in about the past 40 years. In 1950 the average new house was 983 sq ft. Even in 1970 the median new house size was 1385, not much different than Europe. (From NAHB Housing Facts, Figures and Trends, cited by NPR.)

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