Atlantic Cities has a collection of data sources regarding housing size in the United States. A few quick thoughts after seeing this data again:

1. I’m not quite sure why the title of the article references McMansions when it is really about the average size of the new home. Is a home bigger than the average automatically a McMansion? Or is the demand for truly big homes lower? Why isn’t there data about the actual number of large homes being built?

2. I still wonder whether this drop is the beginning of a long plateau or slow drop or more of a reaction to a down housing market. Since the housing market may not recover for years, perhaps it is a bit of both but I wonder what would happen if the economy really improved. What would stop people with the resources to build big, green homes?

3. As long as most of the new housing starts in the United States are in the suburbs, will the average home size drop much at all? Or would we have to see a large population shift toward the cities or denser areas near the cities for this to happen?