Two of the top 10 places where homes are the largest in the US are in Pittsburgh (square footage, living)

[Copanut]

Originally Posted by jimmyev

Where the heck are they getting the square foot data? I thought Pittsburgh was just about the only market in the US where realtors were prohibited from listing the square footage.

FYI, the West Penn Mls is not owned by the NAR, you do not have to be a Realtor to belong. As to sf, too much liability with sue happy buyers, you can get the sf from county records, but that info is usually inaccurate.

[airwave09]

This list is absolutely mind boggling to me... how did we place so many zip codes in the top 25??

[BrianTH]

Originally Posted by airwave09

This list is absolutely mind boggling to me... how did we place so many zip codes in the top 25??

Just speculating:

(1) Real estate in Pittsburgh is relatively inexpensive; and

(2) We've had unusually high growth in high-income households in recent years.

Combine those things together, and you might get people building a lot of large McMansions in greenfield locations.

That may or may not apply to Sewickley and Fox Chapel, which have a lot of older money as well.

[barneyg]

...and/or

(3) the area covered by each Pittsburgh zip code is comparatively smaller (most of the area having been settled a long time ago) so statistics at the zip code level capture Pittsburgh's wealthy suburban areas better than elsewhere in the country.

[raynist]

Could having finished gamerooms factor in?

A finished game room can add up to 33% more square footage to a 2 story house. Most states south of here build houses on a slab of concrete.

[greg42]

That's a good point. Places where basements are common will have a higher square footage average than all the warmer places where they typically build on slabs.

[gg]

Lets face it, we in the Pittsburgh region live large! Heck with Texas when we have much bigger homes.

[Copanut]

Finished basements are considered in the gross living area.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Copanut

FYI, the West Penn Mls is not owned by the NAR, you do not have to be a Realtor to belong. As to sf, too much liability with sue happy buyers, you can get the sf from county records, but that info is usually inaccurate.

I just don't get this. Every place else I have lived, including NY, lists sq. ft. in their MLS listings. They do have a disclaimer about not guaranteeing accuracy.

[sparrowmint]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I just don't get this. Every place else I have lived, including NY, lists sq. ft. in their MLS listings. They do have a disclaimer about not guaranteeing accuracy.

It's also a bit confusing to me because most listings I've seen have included measurements for every single room (aside from hallways or stairwells) which gives one an indication anyway of the house size. And from personal experience, the room measurements in the listings can be significantly wrong, are they not concerned with that, liability-wise?