The FINANCIAL — In 2011, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) predicted that the size of American homes would begin shrinking.
A new survey RealtyTrac bears this out. In its study of annual sales data on single-family homes between 1,000 and 5,000 square feet, there has been a skewing towards the lower end, with the drop anticipated in 2011 occurring in the years that followed.
Looking at the first 15 years of the century, the RealtyTrac study finds that in 2000 the average size of a single-family home within the sample range was 1,772 square feet. A precipitous of 50 square feet followed the next year, which took three more years to build back. Another three years later, in 2007, average sizes reached 1,800 square feet but, like everything else in the economy, home sizes lost ground in 2008 and 2009. The rebounding economy buoyed the housing market and optimistic buyers drove square footage to its peak of 1,863 in 2012 before, as NAHB predicted, it began a downward trend that is 1800 in 2015.
Year Average Square Feet
2000 1,772
2001 1,719
2002 1,749
2003 1,761
2004 1,771
2005 1,789
2006 1,795
2007 1,802
2008 1,796
2009 1,791
2010 1,828
2011 1,856
2012 1,863
2013 1,840
2014 1,799
2015 1,803
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