Seeking Home Spaciousness During a Pandemic

According to the real estate experts at Redfin, the current pandemic is causing home buyers to look toward larger homes in a bid for more space. Redfin revealed that sales of large homes in America rose 21% (year over year) in July.

This surge represents a rate of sale that grew nearly 10 times quicker than small home sales growth. However, the price of small and medium-sized homes experienced the greatest increases. To give an idea, the average price of a small home experienced an uptick of 8.1% (year over year) in July. As for medium-sized homes, those price tags rose 7.5%, while larger homes only experienced a 6.7% increase.

Daryl Fairweather, Redfin's Chief Economist, commented on this increased demand for more space when it comes to home choices for Americans: "Most people would prefer a large home over a small home given the choice. That's true regardless of what's happening in the world, although spending more time at home due to the pandemic is encouraging some homebuyers to seek out bigger houses with bigger yards.”

Fairweather added: “But affordability still reigns, which is why the market for large homes isn't much hotter than for smaller homes. The lines are drawn economically. The people with steady work-from-home jobs are able to move away from city centers, or even to entirely different parts of the country, and find more space for a similar price. But a lot of people searching for homes are in less advantageous financial situations and can't afford more space even if they want it."

Redfin agent Chriss Houghton, who works in Vancouver, WA, also commented on this (literally) growing real estate trend:

"People want bigger: Bigger houses, bigger properties. That’s what people are asking for, whether their idea of big is a half-acre, one acre or 10 acres. If people are living in a small cookie-cutter home right now, they want a larger house with extra rooms and a dedicated place for an office."