America's Housing Mismatch

As households get smaller, homes get bigger:

When the census first started measuring the size of American households, back in 1790, the average home had nearly six people in it. By 1960, that number had fallen to just over three. According to early 2010 estimates—although the data also shows many of us doubling up to make rent in the recession—we’re now down to about 2.6.

But there’s one group that still hasn't caught on: homebuilders. American households have been shrinking for years at exactly the same time as our houses have been expanding. By a lot. Data from the Center for Neighborhood Technology compares trends in household size to census data on home construction, showing that the average size of new homes swelled from 1,400 square feet in 1960 to 2,100 four decades later.

The article goes on to hypothesize about what will become of all the McMansions that sprang up in the mid-1990s.

Steve Clowney