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2000 sq ft suits us. Kitchen/dining room works. Decent size family room where we hang out with the dogs. Master bedroom, two guest bedrooms, and an office. We use the living room as our exercise room, reading retreat. The guest bedrooms are still being used regularly.
We are in and out of all our rooms every day. I love having a different bathroom than my husband. I'm sure he appreciates it as well.
We regularly weed through stuff. Just did it with the holiday decor. Kids move in and out, taking and leaving things behind. But we always seem to fill up 2,000 sq. ft.
Something else so many rarely consider is stairs/basement and access to bedrooms and laundry room if/when people age, get injured, have an illness, stroke, heart etc. and become unable to move around easily or at all. There is also the height of counters and cabinets. Ours are a bit lower already because I am barely over 5' tall however, I still have to use a step stool to reach the top shelf of the cabinets.
Bolding applied for keyword thoughts on why I think these trends are occurring.
As for housing getting smaller in "popular areas", I'm going to assume those areas have been popular since the 70's and include places like urban areas and/or areas with favorable climate. I'd think that the world population increase plays a significant factor. The world population in 1973 (I used that date as it was mentioned in the OP) was under 4B. The world population is now 7.4B so we have 3.3B more people needing housing.
As for houses getting bigger, I think there's a few factors:
- People "want" more now than they did in 1973. Keep up with the Jones' regardless of debt incurred.
- Interest rates. Today, mortgage interest rates are under 4%. In the 70's, wasn't it between 15-25%? - With low rates people can buy more house with the same monthly payment than they could in the 70's.
- Debt - The financial sector and individuals run quite a bit more fast-and-loose with their money and debt.
- Save vs spend. In the 70's, people saved a lot more than they do now. In 1973, it was over 13%. Today, it's under 5%.
Formal living rooms and dining rooms are becoming a thing of the past. The Great room open plan seems to be what most people want unless they have a lot of noisy kids.
The floor plan is much more important than the square feet.
Built in 1957, our house is 875 sf. It is just two of us. We do have a semi-finished basement at 875 sf with laundry room and a full sized bath but otherwise it is just for storage. We have a nice big covered deck and separate garage with additional carport. We do most of our entertaining outside. That being said - I need a bigger house! I don't have a dining room because it is supposed to be a living/dining combo but I'd have nowhere to put the TV if I tried to put a table in the designated 6 x 8 "dining room." We don't even have an eat in kitchen. I need closets that are larger that 4 feet wide and 3 feet deep. The bedrooms (3) are all 10x10. After putting in a queen-sized bed, there is barely room for a dresser. I definitely don't need a huge house but I would be happy with a modest 1,200 sq ft.
Amazingly enough, previous owners raised families in this house. Multiple children. I couldn't imagine!
Everybody does not want larger houses, as your title states.
Many are happy with what they have, or are even downsizing.
Exactly. My wife and I live in an 1800 square foot house, and in Houston, 1800 sq feet is positively microscopic It's just the two of us and our two Great Danes. We have no desire for a larger house. We both hate housework and if we go bigger, it's just that much more cleaning to do. However, our yard is 1/3 acre, and our next home will have another huge yard, so the dogs have room to run and poop.
Layout is far more important than square ft. My house is just under 2000 sq ft and it's too small for 2 of us and 2 dogs because it's laid out in a manner that does not work for our current lifestyle and hobbies. It's got too many bedrooms, but too little storage, too small a garage, and the first floor does not have a very useful layout. It's basically built for a family with a lot of kids, who don't own much stuff, only own 2 compact cars and who don't have any large dogs. If it was laid out well, had a large garage and tons of storage, 2000 sq ft or even smaller would be plenty.
I'm seeing a trend of smaller. The very large baby boomer population is retiring.... They like newer construction, but under 3,000 sq. ft. (Yes, this is smaller for them.) First and second home buyers still want large, but are saying no to cathedral ceilings. Solar is becoming increasingly popular.
We love antique houses and our favorite time frame is the early 1900's. These houses are rarely small unless you like the 20's Arts and Crafts bungalows. I love the stained glass windows and beautiful oak wood work, but the rooms are small. If you love antiques as much as we do then you need a bigger house. The two just go hand in hand. Some of our antiques are quite large and since every room is full of them, the bigger the house, the better.
Some day we will be too old to care for all of it, but for now I feel like the keeper of history and feel the need to preserve the house and the furniture for future generations. Lets hope some one appreciates old things in the future and these cool old pieces don't wind up in the dump some day. That would break my heart.
I would love to have a log cabin on a lake in Maine that's around a thousand square feet to spend winters in. My evil plan has hatched and I'm working on John for it. Lets see who wins. So far it's John.
With more of my relatives and family moving to "popular" areas, it seems like their average homes/condos and apartments are getting smaller and more expensive.
In the future, meaning the next generation of kids and afterwards, wouldn't house sizes get smaller, as land area tends to decrease? Every country besides the US has decreasing smaller house sizes. But we are blessed with a lot of land here, as long as you are willing to move further out. But I think that has to end at some point. Of course, depends on the area of the country.
What do you guys think about larger and larger house sizes? The trend would reverse. House sizes have increased to an average of 2679 square feet, vs 1660 square feet in 1973. I would think by the time my kids need to find houses (maybe in 25 years), they would be looking for small houses or townhouses.
Besides being less land, there is the cost of maintaining all that square footage. My dilemma in house hunting is too many houses are too large for me. I don't NEED the space, and although the extra space would be nice in a way, I'd have to pay utilities for it, re-roofing would cost more, painting, larger a/c & furnace needed, etc.
Seems to me it takes a little longer for the large houses to sell.
For newer houses, the houses are still large, or larger, but there is less and less yard space. People don't spend much time outdoors, anymore. I will...I want a garden, and I have dogs that like to hang outside and play ball sometimes.
I have some newer construction, though, that are smaller houses, so maybe the trend toward large houses is reversing. (I'm talking about middle class homes. Homes for the uber rich are still ginormous, of course, AND have lots of land.)
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It's just the two of us and our two Great Danes. We have no desire for a larger house. We both hate housework and if we go bigger, it's just that much more cleaning to do. However, our yard is 1/3 acre, and our next home will have another huge yard, so the dogs have room to run and poop.
