Small Spaces Trend Emerges

Categories: Blog

America has ‘right-sized.’ From 1950 to 2000, the size of the average American house increased by 230 percent, while the number of people living in it fell 23 percent. Homes continued to grow until 2007, when the trend ended rather abruptly. Industry data clearly indicate that homes have gotten smaller and more efficient. This downsizing trend, known as the small spaces trend, will impact the housing market for years to come.

According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the average size of a new-single family home declined from 2,521 square feet in 2007 – the peak of the housing boom – to 2,377 square feet in 2010. In addition, findings from an NAHB survey showed that 52 percent of builders expect smaller homes in 2011, compared to only 7 percent who expect to build larger homes. The decline will most likely continue and is expected to last even beyond the end of the recession. For instance, NAHB survey respondents believe that by 2015, the average home size will be in the range of 2,000 to 2,399 square feet.

According to a survey by the real-estate site Trulia, more than one-third of Americans say their ideal home size is less than 2,000 square feet.Learn more about the economic, demographic and environmental factors that led the average home size to decrease by downloading our recently released white paper.