McMansions Falling Into Disfavor As Home Buyers Downsize
McMansions are no longer in fashion. What had been conceived as status symbols for emerging wealth are now regarded as crass, wasteful mistakes in the wake of the housing bubble. Grandiose palaces sit abandoned in numerous neighborhoods. Fresh research confirms that demand for these behemoths has all but disappeared. Smaller floor plans and more practical amenities are becoming the norm. Real estate and design professionals seem certain that the demise of the McMansion is permanent.
Demand for McMansions breaks together with property bubble
McMansions–also known as starter castles, garage Mahals and faux chateaus–may have reached their peak during the housing bubble. A return of demand for McMansions might be unlikely. TIME reports that Trulia has released a report on real estate trends that said the average square footage of an American home is decreasing for the very first time in 60 years. The average size of a home in America was 983 square feet in 1950. According to Trulia’s American Dream Survey, by 2004 the average had swelled to 2,349 square feet. Homes of at least 3,000 square feet are considered McMansions. Only 9 percent of the respondents in a different study, the Trulia-Harris Interactive Survey, said they were interested in homes reaching that size. A majority of the housing market, 64 percent of buyers, sought homes from 800-2,000 square feet.
A new call for the housing industry
People within the homes industry think the downsizing trend in the housing market is here to stay. Pete Flint of Trulia told CNBC that smaller square footage is a long term effect . In a survey of builders last year, nine out of 10 said they prepared to build smaller or lower-priced homes. Kermit Baker, the chief economist at the American Institute of Architects, told CNBC his profession is moving away from the McMansion era as homeowners demand more practical designs.Public perception is also working against McMansions. Paul Bishop, vice president of research for the National Association of Realtors told CNBC that within the brand new austere environment brought about by simply the economic downturn, large, ostentatious homes are becoming the laughingstock of neighborhoods.
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