September 14, 2009
Are Large Homes Headed for Obsolescence?
Wall Street Journal online
By Nick Timiraos
... Median household income hasn't grown over the last decade, but average house size has. The average square footage of a new single-family home in the U.S. has gone from 1,660 square feet in 1973 to 2,215 square feet in 2008.
For a while, easy credit during the boom kept this house of cards standing. But now, something's got to give, writes Richard K. Green, the director of USC's Lusk Center for Real Estate. With fewer people able to afford larger homes, demand for them may be disappearing or undergoing economic depreciation, Mr. Green writes...