I saw a report on one of the national TV broadcasts the other day, and then while catching up on reading the Wall Street Journal tonight, I see that Wednesday’s Journal tells the story of the incredible shrinking McMansion in housing markets throughout the country.
According to the story, higher interest rates and construction costs (they failed to mention higher utility costs, too) are conspiring to "shrink" the median square feet of floor area for new single-family homes being constructed by the nation’s largest homebuilders. This admittedly modest decrease (from 2,302 SF to 2,241 SF during the past year) is maybe just a fluke, but consider this: In 1974, the median (half are larger, half are smaller) SF of a new single-family home was 1,560 SF. Those were the days before we found out that we couldn’t live without oversized media rooms, spa-sized master bathrooms, and super-sized closets.
It’s an interesting theory, although I haven’t seen any evidence of that trend around our neighborhood. Yet.
