Do Americans Want Bigger Homes, After All? - Ever since the recession gutted a big chunk of Americans’ wealth (several studies showed that the average American lost half his net wealth in the economic downturn), the logic from homebuilders has been this – create smaller houses. After all, smaller homes are cheaper, and since Americans seem to have a stronger appreciation for the value of a dollar (not to mention a much tougher time qualifying for mortgages!), they’re not going to want the giant, sprawling homes that were so popular in the mid-2000’s.

But that logic might not have been so… well… logical, after all!

The PulteGroup wasn’t willing to rely on all of those other studies before it started building homes, so it conducted a nationwide study of its own at the end of 2012. Their findings? After talking to 500 adults of all different ages, they says Americans aren’t ready to give up their sprawling spaces just yet. Specifically, 84% of the people surveyed said they wanted their next home to be the same size or larger.

Statistics from recently-built homes seems to bear that out. The average size of homes built in 2011 was 2,480 square feet. That’s nearly 4% larger than the average American home built in 2010 – proof that the recession didn’t necessarily lead to a desire for smaller homes, after all.

Instead, it seems Americans want to rearrange their bigger spaces. According to the RealtyPin.com, buyers are less focused on separate living and dining rooms. Apparently, they’d rather combine those rooms into shared space and use the extra square footage to create things like bigger master suites, bigger closets, and bigger kitchens.

The PulteGroup says it also found out one other big trend – Americans don’t just want more space; they also want more organization. According to the survey, it’s not good enough to have a monstrosity of a house. Instead, buyers are looking for homes that make the best use of their space – like, for example, having a “mudroom” off the garage that’s big enough to house laundry equipment, purses, backpacks, shoes, umbrellas, and anything else a buyer might need to grab on their way out to the garage to leave for the day.

But remember, there were people surveyed who didn’t want their next home to be larger. So, who are they?

“They” don’t really fit into a nice, neat little package. That’s because  there wasn’t one specific age group that wanted a smaller house. That might come as a bit of a surprise, considering you traditionally think of Baby Boomers as downsizing. However, most of the Baby Boomers that the PulteGroup spoke to told them that they don’t want to move to smaller homes because they’ve got a lot of stuff! In fact, out of all of the people aged 55 to 59 that they surveyed, only 28% of them said they wanted to downsize.

So, if you’ve been afraid to put your giant home up for sale because you think no one will want to buy it in this day and age, think again! The trends may be completely different than you think!