Home Sizes Trending Downward

The days of the Tehachapi McMansion as a new home may be behind us.  The National Association of Home Builders reports in this article that the average size home built in 2009 had declined to a national average of 2438 square feet.  Home sizes had continually increased for the past three decades, peaking at a national average of 2521 square feet in 2007.

Not only were 2009 constructed homes smaller in square footage, they also had fewer bedrooms and bathrooms as compared to recently built homes from prior years.  Following almost twenty years of increasing, the number of single-family homes with four or more bedrooms declined to 34 percent in 2009 compared with its peak of 39 percent in 2005.  The number of single-family homes with three bedrooms increased from 49 percent to 53 percent between 2005 and 2009.

The trend for 2009 built homes also included fewer bathrooms.  The proportion of homes with three or more bathrooms declined to 24 percent in 2009 compared with 28 percent in 2008.  The percentage of single-family homes with two bathrooms rose to 37 percent in 2009 compared with 35 percent in 2008.  How many bathrooms did you really want to clean anyway?

Do the national trends accurately reflect the Tehachapi area home market?  Share your thoughts by commenting below.

One thought on “Home Sizes Trending Downward

  1. While we would love to have them, solar panels are such a big upfornt expense that our very limited budget probably wouldn’t allow it. Even if we could afford them, I’m not sure that we would be in the house enough years to break even on them, which isn’t the only reason to do them, but I’m kind of a miser.

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