Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Streetsblog

The Shrinking American House: Sign of a Cultural Shift?

They say it's a sign we're coming back to earth as a result of the recession. And perhaps it signals a growing environmental awareness. Certainly, the loss of cheap and easy credit is a factor, as well.

Whatever the cause, we all have a reason to be thankful: the McMansion is losing favor with American homebuyers, according to data published in the New York Times magazine last week. This year, builders are marketing a new ideal of around 1,700 square feet -- large homes by international standards but a relative cubby hole compared to the average of 2,500 square feet that dominated during the housing bubble.

Jason Tinkey at Network blog A Planner's Dream Gone Wrong has taken a moment to contemplate our evolving preferences. It's worthwhile to consider just how we got to the point where building a 6,000-square-foot home seemed like a good idea.

false

Our nation's identity is closely linked to a frontier mentality, a notion that there is an inexhaustible supply of both land and resources. This would have made perfect sense to early settlers who happened upon seemingly endless tracts of virgin forest and vast herds of bison. Of course, we hit the west coast 200 years ago and have been steadily populating the gaps ever since, but the myth still lingers. Buy a house for your 2.5 kids, tend a chemically-treated lawn, drive everywhere even if you don't need to, before eventually succumbing to suburban ennui. This is what "normal" people have done for fifty years in this country.

Of course, no one is really sure whether smaller houses are back to stay, or whether this trend will reverse itself in a future turn of the real estate market. But Tinkey thinks once Americans get a taste of more proportionally sized digs, the benefits will speak for themselves:

The house-buying public will, eventually, understand that bigger is not always better. I think that it's a generational shift which is only beginning.

Elsewhere on the Network today: Greater Greater Washingon gives some thought to the ethics of gentrification. The League of American Bicyclists reevaluates the share of TIGER II funds that went to bike and pedestrian projects. And Steven Can Plan remarks on the success of yesterday's counter-demonstration in support of the new Prospect Park West bike lane in Brooklyn.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Trump DOT Sec. Sean Duffy Is Dead Wrong About New York City’s Bike Lanes

Sean Duffy says he hasn't seen enough data to believe in the benefits of bike lanes. So we put together this cheat sheet to help him out — mostly using information from his own department.

April 25, 2025

Friday Video: Check Out Lorde On a Bike!

The Kiwi singer is on the top of the charts — and in our bike-riding hearts.

April 25, 2025

RELAX: A New City Rule for Private Seating in Public Space Is More of the Same

A proposed new rule governing how much space restaurants can occupy on open streets is hardly controversial, John Surico writes.

April 25, 2025

Friday’s Headlines: Double DOT Incompetence Edition

What this city needs is a place to walk on the Queensboro Bridge ... and for the federal DOT to get out of our way. Plus other news.

April 25, 2025
See all posts