Every man wants to be ruler of his own kingdom and, oftentimes, that kingdom is his home. The king of the castle mentality coupled with the past years of economic comfort has led to the creation of mansion upon mansion and luxury chalet upon rambling deluxe ranch. For largefamilies, homeowners who entertain often, and those looking to invest in a family compound that can not only host the entire clan, but be passed on to many generations, these monolithic homes still make sense. However, with energy costs rising, land prices gradually increasing, and the prices of building materials going up, the building industry is seeing a new trend: builders are creating equally lovely but economical houses with the luxuriant pouch containing the 5 extra bathrooms, swimming pool, and multiple living rooms liposuctioned off.
Realty Times reports that some builders are scaling back homes from 2,200 square feet to 1,800. They are also building two-bedroom houses that only offer a little more than 1,000 square feet. The down-size allows for homes to be reduced to more feasible prices that render new homes an achievable reality more than a fond dream for homeowners.
But the scale-back oughtn´t be interpreted as an entirely bad thing. Joseph Narkiewicz of the Tampa Bay Builder´s Association says that there will still be super-sized homes available for those whose lifestyles demand and support it. He also holds that we´re set to see an improvement in the economy as the year 2008 progresses. The increase in more economically sized and prices homes is a natural downsizing that, eventually, had to occur.
"Some things may have gone to the extreme and I think buyers are now going through a reality check and [finding] they don't really need those huge bathrooms like [developers] were building. They don't really need all the extra space that [developers] were building and, to try to mitigate the higher pricing, they're bringing [the square footage] down," Narkiewicz reasons.
Interestingly enough, Narkiewicz thinks that te smaller-home trend is not a trend, but a reality that´s here to stay—at least for a little while. ¨I think that homes will be down-sized somewhat and that will probably remain there until people decide they want more space. But this is probably going to become a more permanent thing.¨
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