Thursday, June 1, 2017

Homes are Getting a Bit Smaller

According to Bloomberg, It's not quite a tiny-house movement, but homebuyers frustrated by the lack of listings that fit their budget will probably take it. 
In the aftermath of the U.S. foreclosure crisis, homebuilders focused on the top end of the market, where it was easier to find attractive profit margins and credit-worthy borrowers. The median size of a new single-family home increased year after year, reaching a high of 2,467 square feet in 2015—49 percent bigger than in 1978 and 8 percent larger than the prerecession peak in 2007. 
Now that trend has begun to reverse. The median home size decreased slightly, to 2,422 square feet, in 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report on the characteristics of new housing. The trend continued into the first three months of 2017, quarterly data show.