The McMansion Glut

Posted by on June 18, 2006

The Wall Street Journal reports that shrinking families, rising energy and mortgage costs and a growing number of retirement-age boomers are turning oversized houses, known as "McMansions," into dinosaurs. Based on interviews with dozens of real estate agents, sellers, developers and housing economists and analysis of zip codes with higher than average four-bedroom houses shows McMansions are moving much slower than smaller homes.

A telling quote from one seller: "We don't need this big a house anymore -- if we ever did."

If this is, indeed, a trend, it could suggest another threat to the surburban market.