CLEVELAND - The size of the average home is shrinking.
Fran DiBello of Cleveland didn't need a lot of room. For her, a three-story townhome has everything she could need.
"I really like the style of this home," she says. "It's very efficient. The appliances, the heat."
It also has a view of Lake Erie and an 8-minute commute to work. Ten years ago, this neighborhood wasn't here; 10 years ago, these homes would have been over shadowed by the McMansion.
"A McMansion was a trophy - often times a house with five or six bedrooms when you only needed two," says Scott Phillips, real-estate agent with Keller Williams in Clevekand.
The median size of homes purchased in 2008, the most recent year for which figures are available, is 1,825 square feet. For first-time buyers it is 1,580 square feet, according to the National Association of Realtors.
A majority of the homes Phillips sells are less than 1,700 square feet.
Some consider it an outgrowth of being green; others see it as people living within their means.
Another shift in housing trends also means a move closer to the city's core, Phillips says.
Numbers show that 90% of home sales nationwide are to young professionals looking for urban housing.
"People like to live where they're closer to the amenities, the parks, nightlife, grocery stores," he says.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Mark Williams, Broker, ABR, Realtor
