Americans’ ideal home size declined to 2,100 square feet from a peak of 2,300, according to real estate research firm Trulia. (The full account of this trend was laid out by Kaid Benfield at Atlantic Cities, and it’s worth checking out.)
Meanwhile, the U.S. Census bureau has found that the ideal home size tracks with the reality — the average size of a new U.S. single family home is also down.
When will this trend end? It’s hard to say, but it’s clear that you can manage a dissolute modern Western lifestyle without needing a cavernous home. U.S. homes would have to shrink to nearly a third their current size to match the average size of a home in the U.K.
