Posted By: Madeleine Brooks
The United States economy is going to get increasingly worse before anyone sees an improvement to move out of this recession. What does this mean to the average home-owner or potentially new home-buyers? Lately people have been saying that a larger home is not always a good home. Research has shown that builders are making homes that are smaller in size than ever before. The average size of a home in the third quarter of 2008 was 2,438 square feet down from 2,692 square feet the quarter before.
What does this say? People now are not downsizing their homes but more so "rightsizing". Home owners are selling their larger homes to economize by purchasing a home that does not waste unused space and better fulfill their needs. Gayle Butler who is the editor-in-chief of Better Homes & Gardens conducted a survey and thirty two percent of people who took the survey expect to their newest home to be smaller than the one they are currently living in. The people who took the survey were a combination of current home owners as well at 733 new home buyers.
Builders in this case are responding to the needs and desires of the potential home buyer by building more economy-sized homes, so fewer large homes and more adequate sized. Home buyers/owners are wanting a larger family room that can accommodate a playroom section for the children as well as a gym for the adults.
All you see on television, newspapers and the radio is foreclosures on homes. It is assumed that the economy has made it hard for people to afford to maintain a large home as well as pay off the mortgage that goes along with that home. It makes sense that people would be "rightsizing" to save money and to live more comfortably.
References:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123301406083917547.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123672707657288607.html?mod=sphere_ts&mod=sphere_wd
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/kb-homes-results-show-smaller/story.aspx?guid={AB9A61C6-48B9-457F-A555-66BCD5182FB1}&dist=msr_9
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