New homes are getting smaller. That could be big news for first-time buyers
New homes are getting smaller. That could be big news for first-time buyers
New homes are getting smaller. That could be big news for first-time buyers | CNN Business
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Compared to other countries, America is known for bigger cars, portions and take-out coffee cup sizes. For most of recent history, Americans have also wanted bigger homes — but now that’s changing.
For most of the last half-century, new single-family homes kept growing. In 1973, the median size of completed single-family homes was 1,525 square feet, according to US Census data. By 2015, that number had ballooned to 2,467 square feet.
But as the cost of buying a home has exploded and McMansions have fallen out of favor, homebuilders have reversed course, building smaller homes with an eye to first-time buyers. In 2023, the median single-family home built was 2,233 square feet, down 9% from the 2015 peak, with many formal dining rooms and “bonus” rooms disappearing.
Carias and her partner ultimately settled on a roughly 920-square-foot home. To maximize space, they decided to use the basement as their primary bedroom.
This just means you'll pay the same price for a smaller house.
Source: am australian
"why sell 1 regular house on an acre when you can sell 10 tiny houses on the same acre?"
real estate investor
If they did that, they just might alleviate the massive supply shortage we ran into. That would actually be great.
Yes, but they need to spread propaganda that the top 10% are not bleeding the rest if us dry.
It takes less resources and money to keep a smaller house. Smaller repair bills, smaller utility bills and smaller amounts of maintenance. Smaller, more sustainable housing should require people to work less to afford to live.
Or it means, people get in way more debt than they can afford to buy a small low quality house, that costs more than a comparable apartment and doesn't offer any of the benefits of a proper house.
We have those developments here in Germany and it's awful. It looks like shit and I'm 80% sure that a significant part of the current owners could only afford their houses due to the low interest rates of the last decade. If they have to inevitably refinance, someone loses their job or a large unexpected expense happens, they're absolutely fucked.
Welcome to German suburbs. Where the space between houses is the absolute minimum, the houses are only slightly larger than a reasonable apartment and every house looks exactly the same like in the 20 other new development areas around the city.
It's the plastic version of the discount dream of wealth.