Homes are getting smaller in 2024: Here's why

A decade ago, if you wanted a new home, the question was did you want big or bigger? But times have changed, and these days the newest trend or slightly smaller homes on smaller lots, but still with the features families want. If kitchen, living room. Ben Fry is a home builder putting finishing touches on a new house that looks a little different from typical subdivision homes. Kind of enough space for a bed and your dressers. You know, you're not seeing the sitting rooms in here anymore, the homes in this community. Smaller a much smaller lots. Lots are becoming harder and harder for builders and developers to find. With land and building costs so high, people are getting smarter with a square footage, putting putting more square foot in the end of the livable space. The National Association of Home Builders says home size shot up in 2021 when the pandemic sparked demand for more space. Since then, though, floor plans have started to shrink. Data from the Census Bureau shows square footage of new housing units is down from about 2500 square feet in 2021. Closer to 2300 square feet in the first quarter of this year. Home builders are responding to affordability issues. Nerd wallets Holden Lewis says structures like townhomes are cheaper to build and cheaper to buy. You want to buy your starter home. You, you know, you're kind of forced to start small. Lewis says buyers are giving up perks such as extra windows and garage space. Frey says some buyers are leaving some spaces unfinished. Finishing a little bit of the basement, but not the whole thing. Homebuyer Carolyn Marsh, downsizing from a large family home, is sold on the idea of small. The smaller house. I really feel like freedom, freedom from taking care of such a large place in the yard. And that way you don't waste your money. I'm John Matarese.