Americans are trending towards smaller, more efficient houses according to a white paper released by Atlanta-based marketing agency Kleber and Associates (KA). The report covers the economic, demographic and environmental factors that led the average home size to decrease.
Trulia-Harris Interactive Survey conducted July 22-26, 2010 via KA.
The size of the average American house increased by 230% in the last 50 years, while the number of occupants fell 23%. According to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), the average size of a new single-family home declined from 2,521 sf in 2007 to 2,377 sf in 2010. More than one-third of Americans say their ideal home size is less than 2,000 sf.
It is not so much a matter of downsizing as ‘right-sizing,’ according to an article on MSN Real Estate via KA. It means giving up big homes with unused space and buying a home that better fits one's needs.
"The market has spoken – bigger is not always better," the report concluded. Download the full report here.
