Miami mansions making a comeback

During the previous three years, the average size of new houses has grown seriously, according to a Census Bureau report released Monday. In 2012, the mean home in the U.S. Hit a best-ever record of 2,306 sq. feet, up 8% from 2009. During the recession, Americans downsized and the average new home shrunk in size by 6% over two years to 2,135 square feet. At the time, many industry leaders said the days of the Mansions were over. The shrinkage was supposed to imply that a new time had started, with young customers looking to live closer to urban cores and settling for smaller places and baby boomers downsizing after their children had flown the nest. It wasn't that shoppers wanted less space, many just couldn't afford more, asserted Jeffry Roos, a regional president for home builder Lennar. And now that the economy is shaping up, they're demanding bigger houses again, he revealed. Related : Best deals on property In 2012, the nation's Association of Home Builders conducted a survey of homebuyer preferences and revealed that folks preferred a median home size of 2,226 square feet, just shy of the Census Bureau's recently reported median size. And the houses seem to be getting far larger this year, according to builders. Marcie DePlaza, a division president for GL Homes, said so far this year her company is selling houses that average about 7% larger than during the first five months of 2012. Rose Quint, an aid vice chairman for survey research with NAHB, announced the trend toward bigger houses might be less pronounced if mortgages were better to get for low- and middle-income borrowers. With hard underwriting standards ready the consumers who land mortgages have a tendency to be more affluent and in a position to afford larger houses. Related : 5 best markets to purchase a home "It has to do with who has access to credit," she announced. "The mixture of homebuyers is different. When lending returns to normal, home size will go down again." So far that trend has yet to appear. Although loan underwriting has gotten a bit less complicated recently, according to a Federal Reserve survey, home sizes keep growing. It may be that folks are basically programmed to want bigger living spaces. While snooping around, buyers always finish up looking for larger, not smaller, homes than they'd originally planned, according to Fred Cooper, a spokesperson for Toll Brothers, the nation's largest luxury home developer. "In the depressions, in upturns, whenever, our consumers often added another 18% to Twenty percent of floor space onto what already was a really nice house to start with," said Cooper. Related : Builders hold lotteries for fervent new house purchasers A corresponding thing happens at GL Homes. It has got a model available in a three-bedroom, or a bigger four-bedroom version. "The 4 bedroom outsells the three bedroom all day long," announced DePlaza. "I have no idea if we've ever sold a three-bedroom one." Many families have also doubled up, with 3 generations or even more living under a single roof. Lennar has a line of homes, called Next Gen, that come with a separate suite, OK for a mother-in-law or for college grads who are saving money before setting off all alone or people who haven't managed to find roles. Naturally, these houses are bigger than Lennar's average offering and became more popular. But it's difficult not to see the rise in home size as an indication that the economy is recovering, said DePlaza. "People weren't purchasing SUVs [during the recession] either and they are again," she said. To top of page "mansions"