Dive summary:

• In another sign that the housing recovery is not built on the home-building industry's usual foundations, the average size of a new home in the U.S. during the second quarter of this year was 2,642 square feet —81 square feet bigger than the record set in the first quarter of 2009—the Census Bureau reported.
• The recovery is leaving out first-time home buyers because of very tight credit, so the drivers are older, more affluent people who may be buying their second third home in their lifetimes and who want and can afford more.
• Since the 1980s, first-time buyers had been about 40% of the market for homes, but the National Association of Realtors says that group has been squashed down to 29% now.

From the article:

"The first-time buyer now has to come up with 20% down payment and a pristine credit score, and that's harder to do," said Stephen Melman, director of economic services for the National Association of Home Builders. ...