Comments on: Size of Average American House Doubled Since 1950s

By: vnjagvet

vnjagvet — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 19:56:51 +0000

There is a cycle for these things. During the teens and twenties in the last century, the average home was quite a bit larger than it was after WWII when there had been a severe housing shortage creating demand met by Levitt and others building 750-1200 sq ft tract houses in the northeast and California.

Once the pent up demand was met, houses began getting bigger. That trend continued from the 1960s until today.

By: Rick DeMent

Rick DeMent — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 18:25:07 +0000

and all of this while the size of the actualt family has been falling. Interesting.

By: Gollum

Gollum — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 16:21:28 +0000

This strikes me as another example where instinctive drives coupled with affluence lead to unhealthy excess, much like what happens when sugar, fat, and salt (all of which we need but which over all but our most recent existence have been rare finds) are cheap and widely available.

By: legion

legion — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 14:22:07 +0000

I have no evidence other than anecdote, but I suspect this average is skewed by a relatively small percentage of people in those so-called McMansions... I and my family of 4 are comfortable in our ~1850sqft house - it is one of the smaller ones on the block, tho.

I think the main driver for the growth here is the drive to give children their own rooms as early as possible. There's probably some social dynamic there, but I haven't had enough coffee yet this morning to run it down... :-)