The small-homes trend was so 2014.
The National Association of Home Builders reports the average home size is again increasing after a lull last year.
The square footage of the median single-family home grew to 2,521 square feet in the first quarter of 2015, up from 2,445 square feet in the fourth quarter of 2014, according to an NAHB analysis of Census data. That was a 3.1 percent increase.
In some ways, the data reflects a stratifaction of the real-estate market, the home builders group said.
“The post-recession increase in single-family home size is consistent with the historical pattern coming out of recessions,” the group said. “Typical home size falls prior to and during a recession as some homebuyers cut back, and then sizes rise as high-end homebuyers, who face fewer credit constraints, return to the housing market in relatively greater proportions. This pattern has been exacerbated in the last two years due to market weakness among first-time homebuyers.”
The average, or mean, square footage for new single-family homes was even higher, 2,736 square feet, up from 2,677.
Durango has a huge variety of home sizes. Some of the smallest homes in Three Springs are only about 1,000 square feet.
Media are flocking to write about so-called “tiny houses.” Yet big homes are going up in SkyRidge and even parts of Three Springs.
Others remain on the market, though.
For example, a 6,680-square-foot home at 455 Pinnacle View Drive, in Two Dogs, about 6 miles south of Purgatory Resort, is listed for $4.15 million. The mountain craftsman-style home was built in 2005.
Don Ricedorff, an agent with The Wells Group in Durango, said he heard of one buyer of a Telluride home who was searching for a luxury home of about 5,000 square feet. He didn’t want anything larger.
“On the real upper-end side, there still may be some thought about managing the size of the home,” Ricedorff said.
Yet in the bulk of the market, Ricedorff predicted millennial buyers will increasingly want larger homes as their families grow. Where once a home of 1,100 or 1,200 square feet sufficed, these buyers will want more room, he said.
“All of the sudden, they’re starting to feel cramped,” he said.
cslothower@durangoherald.com
