[thbb123]

To add to that, a house a hundred years ago was nothing like a house today: building codes, square footage per person, heating, plumbing, connectivity... Building and maintaining a decent housing unit is far more expensive in material and energy than it was 60 years ago.

[lotsofpulp]

To add to that, household size also decreased.

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/10/01/the-numbe...

[rootusrootus]

This is the one I'm curious to see play out. How low can it go? Did it reach bottom? Maybe once it stabilizes at a new norm, housing supply will catch up and prices will settle down.

[charlie0]

Yet, almost no one makes those sweet starter homes anymore.

[lotsofpulp]

Newer homes have been trending smaller and smaller for a long time. Especially in the western US.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/03/10/smaller-n...

> Median new-home sizes are at a 13-year low.

[charlie0]

I must not be looking at the right place then. All the new homes I've seen recently are 2000+ sq. ft. The only ones that are smaller are usually townhomes and are even less affordable than the bigger homes I just mentioned they are located near downtowns or other heavily populated areas.

[lotsofpulp]

Here are some at not much more than 1k sq ft:

https://www.mihomes.com/new-homes/texas/greater-san-antonio/...

https://ginngrp.com/for-sale/parkhouse-vista/

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/812-24th-Avenue-S-Seattle...

> The only ones that are smaller are usually townhomes and are even less affordable than the bigger homes I just mentioned they are located near downtowns or other heavily populated areas.

That will not change because the market of people looking to buy a 1k sq ft home on a quarter acre lot in a less populated area either cannot afford the construction costs or the set of buyers interested in that is too small to bet on for a developer.

[amanaplanacanal]

No you are still right. The article says the new smaller homes average 2179 square feet.