In today's Tallahassee Democrat Real Estate Section, there was an article about Home sizes. This article caught my eye. "Susper-sized Homes may be on the way out" was the title of the article.
As a resident, a home owner in Northeast Tallahassee, a real estate investor, and as a Realto, I took to this article with interest.
The gist of the article was that as housing cost increase, consumers are choosing more high-end amenities in replacement of space.
30 years ago, the average home size was 1500 sqf (square feet in Realto jargon). Currently, the average home is about 2500 sqf. The expectation for 2015 is the average home will be between 2300-2500 sqf. Ok, I see that ... The article says most homes in the last few years are being built with a Formal Living Room, which has furniture collecting dust.
Here is my take...and this is what most people want.... Mos consumer want a flex room, the want all the amenities they can afford. The Formal Living Room is a dying bread for use as a Formal LIving Room in homes under 3500 sqf. In homes under 3500 sqf, that room is now a Flex Room. The Flex Room is used mostly as an Office, but can be a Play Room, a Guest Room, a LIbrary/Study, Poker Room, TV Room, Exercise Room, or whatever else someone can think up to use the room for. In homes above 3500 sqf, most will use the Living Room for its intended purpose.
I don't see home sizes dropping much in the near future, and here is why. The consumers who can afford the larger homes are still going to buy them. What I see, is a reduction in the Lot/Yard size. We are seeing that in Tallahassee right now. The reason for that, is the cost of the dirt. In general, across the board, there is between 2.25 - 4.25 people live in a houshold across the country and across the differend ethnic lines that make up our great country of homeowners. Tallahassee/Leon County and the surrounding counties are not much different. Therefore, I don't think the house size will contract much. I doubt we will be forced to be "hamsters in a cage". We will do whatever it takes to keep out space. We will even sacrifice the size of our lot for that same reason.
Whoever, or however Planet Earth was created, there is one standard, the dirt we have is all we get.
Well...that is my take on the article which was a little vague in relation to its title.
If you have any comments, let me chris@ringtherivers.com or feel free to call me 850.545.9317
Until next time!
Chris