Kaid Benfield looks at recent trends in the housing sector and asks whether America's infatuation with the McMansion is over.
Citing studies from Trulia, the National Association of Home Builders, the census, and the National Association of Realtors, Benfield sees a reversal in the long term trend of increasing American home size.
"After many years of dramatically increasing home size in America - from an average of 983 square feet in the 1950s up to 2300 square feet in the 2000s, despite declining household sizes - the trend appears finally to be going in the other direction."
To provide a little perspective however, Benfield shows that the US has a long way to fall to catch up with most other developed countries.
"A survey and data comparison conducted by the (now-defunct, unfortunately) British Commission on Architecture and the Built Environment found the size of an average new American home built in the 2000s to be approximately twice as large in floor space as one in Spain or France, and nearly three times as large as the average in the UK."
FULL STORY: What's going on with new home sizes - is the madness finally over?
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UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research