Is it possible that homes cost more because they're too big?

[OfTheCross]

My home is Hawaii sized...but I'm thinkin, unless all these 2k+ sq ft homes are 2-stories, they're taking up a big footprint. We could add a lot more homes if we cut it in half.

https://www.visualcapitalist.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/American-Home-Size-Index_Avg-House-Size_States-1200.png

 

[WIA20XX]

Traveling made me realize how big everything in America is.

• The Housing
• The Streets
• The Cars and Trucks
• The Plates of food
• The People.

In terms of the cost of housing - Demand + Constrained Supply + Developers only making "luxury" homes + money printing = high costs in most metro areas.

 

[yesiambowling]

Housing is expensive because we don't build enough homes in th US. There is no shortage of land for housing; the roadblocks are navigating zoning laws, and dealing with NIMBYs.

Making homes/lots smaller won't do much. You need to build more housing period.

 

[Propaganda]

2800 is the average? woooow. that's crazy.

made me want to look up the numbers for up here in ontario. we're somewhere between 1500-1600, apparently.

 

[acri1]

To be honest I think it has more to do with construction companies not having an incentive to build smaller/cheaper homes because they're less profitable.

Housing Trends

Get up-to-date information on housing trends, including where consumers are settling down, which housing markets have the best prices, and more.

www.consumeraffairs.com

Not much profit in building starter homes​

If there is such a big market for starter homes, why don’t contractors build more of them? Daniel Blatman, associate broker at The Agency, a national brokerage firm, says building small homes presents a challenge for contractors. For example, the cost of the land to build a $250,000 home is the same as for a house that might sell for $750,000.

“They (builders) need to sell at higher prices to make the margins work for the amount of effort put into place,” Blatman told us. “It's more economical to purchase a lower-priced home and fix it up than to build ground-up new construction.”

That appears to be the crux of the issue. With the cost of materials, labor, and land, builders go where the money is – larger homes that sell for more. Daniel Smith, CEO and founder at Keepingly, a home management platform, tells us a typical starter home should list for around $200,000.

“Yet, land costs, construction materials, state and (local) government fees have all risen over the last few decades,” Smith said. “Additionally, rules and regulations around the starter home requirements have shifted. Combined, all these factors have impacted the cost of construction for today’s entry-level home compared to those on the market in previous years.”

 

[YvrzTrvly]

Be surprised in hyper consumerist country houses are way to fukkin big brehs...shyt ain't the problem tho...just bad for environment

 

[☑︎#VoteDemocrat]

not really, its just the housing shortage

 

[Geek Nasty]

Something else not quite related we dont build enough apartments and townhouses because cities zone for single family homes

Its really bad in KC. All these suburbs just extending way out into the country. I bet a lot of it has to do with upper middle class people wanting a sellers market and no “poor people” across the street in apartments.

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

homes are def too big, you have people who make a decision on what to buy solely on how much house they can get for their dollar, regardless of needing that space or not. not sure how we evolved into thinking every kid needed their own room, plus an office and media room in addition to living/family room. people used to spend time outside of their bedroom and outside of the house, now every one expects space for an office, gym and movie room all at home. and it really makes no sense given families have gotten smaller.

i actually think we need more 2-3 family homes that sell each unit individually (not one person buying the building and renting out the other units), and no, i also don't mean condo style with extortionist HOA's and crazy restrictions etc.

 

[WIA20XX]

Before the pandemic, I was of the opinion that a lot of the housing pressure in the big cities would go away if more people moved out to the boonies because they could work from home.

Well that actually happened - relatively well paid people with work from home jobs moved out to the burbs and beyond. All that did was make prices in small towns go up.

 

[Json]

To be honest I think it has more to do with construction companies not having an incentive to build smaller/cheaper homes because they're less profitable.

Housing Trends

Get up-to-date information on housing trends, including where consumers are settling down, which housing markets have the best prices, and more.

www.consumeraffairs.com

This is it.

Two things have changed in the past 50 years.

Smaller families and more mobility.

Homes should be smaller and shouldn’t be 30year mortgages. With one kid or two(not being passed down) you’re stuck paying on a bigger house for at least a decade.

 

[CrimsonTider]

homes are def too big, you have people who make a decision on what to buy solely on how much house they can get for their dollar, regardless of needing that space or not. not sure how we evolved into thinking every kid needed their own room, plus an office and media room in addition to living/family room. people used to spend time outside of their bedroom and outside of the house, now every one expects space for an office, gym and movie room all at home. and it really makes no sense given families have gotten smaller.

i actually think we need more 2-3 family homes that sell each unit individually (not one person buying the building and renting out the other units), and no, i also don't mean condo style with extortionist HOA's and crazy restrictions etc.

You grow into the space

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

You grow into the space

Ahh, so consumerism, buy a big ass house you don’t need and fill it with junk you don’t need.

 

[CrimsonTider]

Ahh, so consumerism, but a big ass house you don’t need and fill it with junk you don’t need.

I don’t think you can define someone’s need

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

I don’t think you can define someone’s need

Yea, I can.