In 2010, the average size of a single-family home in the U.S. was 123 square feet less than it had been in 2007. The 2010 average stood at 2,381 square feet, according to data gathered by the Census Bureau.
Prices had been sinking, too, as the housing collapse worked its damage on the markets. Last year, though, while prices continued to subside, the average size began to rise.
"For all these years, the trend was going [down], and then in 2011 it got reversed," Rose Quint, assistant vice president of survey research at the National Association of Home Builders told Builder Online. "Everything we had heard from builders, from architects, from consumers … was all pointing to a smaller home. But then in 2011 that all seemed to go under the bus."
