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Families in Newly-Built Homes are Living Larger

While recent analysis indicates that newly-built rental housing units in the most populous U.S. cities span the least number of square feet since the crash, research shows that newly-constructed single-family homes have gone in the opposite direction.

In 32 of the largest and busiest U.S. Cities, PropertyShark determined the local building size trends for each decade since 1910 and compared local trends with the evolution in size of the average American home—and found that single-family homes built in the last six years are 74 percent larger (nationwide, on average) than those built in 1910.

Not only are the homes larger on average, but personal living space has also increased—by 211 percent, because while the homes have been getting larger, households of getting smaller, according to PropertyShark. The average newly-built single-family home in the U.S. (condo or house) is now 2,430 square feet, an increase of about 1,000 square feet from those built slightly more than a hundred years ago. During that same period, the average number of people in a household has shrunk from 4.54 in 1910 to 2.58 in 2016, meaning that the average family today living in a newly-constructed single-family home has about 957 more square feet of living space than their grandparents had.

Only four out of the 32 cities had an average home size larger than the national median for homes built during 2010-16: Orlando, San Antonio, Nashville, and Dallas, all of which boasted single-family homes built in that six-year period with a median of more than 2,600 square feet. Boston ranked at the bottom of the list, with newly-built single-family homes span only 909 square feet during that six-year period (down from the 90s, when new homes spanned 1,360 square feet in Boston).

In Las Vegas, which was barely established as a city when the study period began, the average size of a newly-constructed single-family home tripled during the 106-year period from 800 square feet up to 2,400 square feet. In markets like Dallas and San Antonio, the average home size in 2016 was more than double its size from 1910.

Despite consistent inventory constraints, newly-constructed single-family home sales skyrocketed in July in the latest report from HUD and the Census Bureau, climbing by 12 percent over-the-month and 31 percent over-the-year up to approximately 654,000.

“Expect greater stability in the next few months,” said Tian Liu, chief economist at Genworth Mortgage Insurance. “We see tremendous growth potential in new home sales as housing demand continues to grow and the continued supply shortage of newer vintage homes.”

About Author: Seth Welborn

Seth Welborn is a Harding University graduate with a degree in English and a minor in writing. He is a contributing writer for MReport. An East Texas Native, he has studied abroad in Athens, Greece and works part-time as a photographer.
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