Bigger Homes are making a comeback

In the past few years builders were downsizing homes to accomodate an era of frugality and austerity. As the economy slowly improves and anxieties ease, home buyers are upsizing again. According to the data from the Census Bureau, the average size of a newly built home was 2,480 square feet in 2011.

That was up 3.7% from 2010 and represented the first annual increase since 2007. The return to bigger houses indicates that while the housing downturn paused, it didn’t kill America’s love affair with large homes. It can be cheaper in the long run to build a big home now – even if you don’t need the space yet. You spread the cost over the life of the loan, instead of spending money down the road for expansion projects.

However, we don’t really think in terms of “big house”  or “small house.” We know it’s all relative, of course. Some of our home building clients would feel the average large size new home of 2,480 square feet would not be large enough.

What size is the “just right” size home for you?