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Home Size Expansion - 6/27/16

Though there has been a considerable volume of discussion suggesting that many Americans are interested in downsizing their residences, recently released Census data indicate that there are plenty of Americans looking for more space.  The median size of a new single family home was just short of twenty five hundred square feet last year. 

That represents the largest median size estimate on record.  The median home is now sixty one percent larger than the median home forty years ago and eleven percent larger than the median a decade ago.  As reported by the Wall Street Journal, American homes are not only getting larger, they also include more bathrooms and amenities like air conditioning. 

Ninety three percent of new homes had air conditioning in twenty fifteen compared with just forty six percent in nineteen seventy five.  About ninety six percent of new homes had at least two bathrooms last year – that compares to sixty percent four decades earlier. 

Of course, these larger, more amenity rich homes cost more.  The median sales price for a new home in America was in excess of two hundred and ninety six thousand dollars last year.  That represents an all-time high even if one adjusts for inflation. 

Anirban Basu, Chariman Chief Executive Officer of Sage Policy Group (SPG), is one of the Mid-Atlantic region's leading economic consultants. Prior to founding SPG he was Chairman and CEO of Optimal Solutions Group, a company he co-founded and which continues to operate. Anirban has also served as Director of Applied Economics and Senior Economist for RESI, where he used his extensive knowledge of the Mid-Atlantic region to support numerous clients in their strategic decision-making processes. Clients have included the Maryland Department of Transportation, St. Paul Companies, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Players Committee and the Martin O'Malley mayoral campaign.