Revenge of the tiny houses!

The most recent issue of Money magazine has a feature, "The Incredible Shrinking House," which reports:

Generations X and Y seem more intrigued with life downtown where they can enjoy easy access to restaurants and entertainment, a minimal commute and smaller, easier-to-care-for living spaces.

"Ask anyone how many rooms in their house they don't regularly go into and most will admit that they actually live in a small percentage of their home," says Marianne Cusato, an architect who used to design 3,000-square-foot-plus homes but now specializes in cottages.

And then today in the WSJ, there's "Ceilings Come Down to Earth," which finds:

Major home builders including Pulte Homes, Toll Brothers and K. Hovnanian say more buyers are looking for the maximum number of rooms and square footage for their money, so they're opting to have a loft, bedroom or playroom built in the air space where the plans call for a double-height ceiling. "People don't want it anymore," says Ken Gancarczyk, head of builder services for KB Home. The big Los Angeles-based builder has stopped offering double-height great rooms in response to falling demand.

I know I've talked before about how weirdly unlivable the McMansions felt when I ventured into them. But I do wonder what will happen in these neighborhoods where these monstrous houses are currently packed cheek-by-jowl. Will we see a teardown effect where people will buy the land and build a smaller place on the lot? Will we see battles as people attempt to convert McMansions to multifamily units? Will we see these neighborhoods slide into crime? And how long will this shift away from giant overstuffed houses take?

Comments

[Polly]

I thought it was interesting that people say, "Wow" when they see a double-height ceiling, but when it comes time to buy, they opt to put a room there. That's exactly my reaction: That looks awesome! immediately followed by, But I bet it's freezing in winter! It's kind of like my reaction to fancy sports cars--they're very cute, but I'm glad I don't own one.

I live in a neighborhood of small houses, and I'll tell you, I bought my place two years ago and prices have appreciated considerably since then (as in, I probably wouldn't be able to afford this place). I think we must be benefiting from people deciding that the monster houses are just not worth the trouble.

[Jenn C.]

That's interesting, and I'm not surprised, really. It's expensive to heat places like that, and while they have "wow" factor, they're not very practical, nor conducive to a familial feeling, in my mind.

We have about 1350 square feet, and for three people, it's perfect. Just enough room that we don't feel cramped and have each been able to carve out our own spaces, but small enough that we're not paying a fortune to heat it, and I'm not cleaning rooms we never use. And we do use every room in our place, because of how we've set things up.

[Alice]

My perspective on how much space is necessary has drastically changed since I moved from Canada to the UK. I used to live in a 850 square foot loft with two bathrooms, one bedroom and office space, by myself. I now live in a 600 square foot two bedroom flat with one bathroom and a garden, with a flatmate, and I can't imagine what I would do with all that space I used to have.