The Small House Movement – Only a Niche

There should be a product out there for homebuyers who desire a new, smaller house.  Those buyers include first timers, singles of all ages, and people looking to downsize from their present home.   An attached condominium has been the default option, but a townhouse or flat is just not a single-family home. 

Recent interest in building smaller houses first attracted attention with the publication in 1997 of The Not So Big House by Sarah Susanka.   The author argues for quality of design over quantity of space.  By choosing only spaces actually used by inhabitants and then carefully designing that space so that they relate well to one another both functionally and visually, houses can be built dramatically smaller.  These small houses have their appeal economically as well as ecologically.

For a while during the recent post recession years it seemed that the size of houses was beginning to reverse direction.  Nationally, house size did decline after the recession in 2008, though only by.........

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