Persevering with NAHB’s dedication to be on the forefront of analysis on dwelling purchaser preferences, the 2024 version of What Dwelling Patrons Actually Need was not too long ago launched on the Worldwide Builders’ Present. The first goal of the research is to supply builders, producers, architects, and the final residential development trade with an intensive evaluation of what consumers are in search of of their houses and communities. Due to the inherent range in purchaser backgrounds, the research offers granular specificity based mostly on demographic components resembling era, geographic location, race/ethnicity, earnings, and value level.
The research reveals that consumers need smaller houses than they did 20 years in the past. In 2003, the everyday dwelling purchaser needed 2,260 sq. toes of completed space. In 2023, that quantity was all the way down to 2,067 sq. toes. Determine 1 reveals there was a everlasting downward shift in purchaser preferences for dwelling measurement. From 2003 to 2012, the everyday purchaser needed to purchase a house ranging in measurement from 2,200 to 2,300 sq. toes. Since 2015, that vary dropped to between 2,000 and a pair of,100 sq. toes.
Knowledge from the U.S. Census Bureau on the scale of latest houses verify they’ve been shrinking for almost a decade. The common measurement of latest houses began in 2023 dropped to 2,411 sq. toes (the smallest in 13 years), persevering with a downward development that started in 2015 when common dwelling measurement peaked at 2,689 sq. toes. The one 12 months that noticed dwelling measurement improve throughout this era was 2021, because of the pandemic-induced need for added area to work/research from dwelling and the low interest-rate atmosphere that allowed consumers to buy these larger houses. However the decline in common dwelling measurement resumed in each 2022 and 2023. Importantly, the median measurement of latest houses has additionally trended down for a decade, reaching 2,179 sq. toes in 2023.
That is the primary of a sequence of posts over the subsequent few weeks that can cowl an important findings within the newest What Dwelling Patrons Actually Need, 2024 Version. The research relies on a nationwide survey of greater than 3,000 latest and potential dwelling consumers, chosen to proportionally signify of the US inhabitants when it comes to age, earnings, race/ethnicity, and area of the nation.
