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In 1998, Ginny Chen Sampson and her husband Craig purchased a 1,400-square-foot home near the western edge of Richmond, Virginia, and became newly pregnant with their daughter Sabrina.
The beauty of the early 1940s is the desirable area of brick colonies and Cape Cod, with slate roofs. When families start to grow their homes a lot, many often reluctantly sell and move on to something bigger.
However, the Sampsons stayed and raised Sabrina until they went to college. As relatively high revenue experts, the couple could have afforded more, but they loved where they were and with only kids with Sabrina, they didn’t have to do an upsize.
“We’re kind of anti-consumer,” Sampson said. “It fits our desire to not want to increase energy costs, buy more for the space, or have more space to clean.”
Now, Sampson’s first home has become their empty nest. Couples were able to pay off their mortgages a few years ago, but money was not a challenge in general, but they appreciate their financial flexibility, especially with household prices spike around them.
“We’ve been happy here for many years,” Sampson told USA Today.
Why do housing markets need small homes?
In the US housing market, we need to cry not only with more homes, but also with more affordable homes, but specifically small homes. These properties are loosely defined as less than 1,500 square feet, punching over weight, and going a step ahead in the interim for Americans entering the housing market, where they will retire after raising their families, and for many families.
Furthermore, according to a recent report, their relative rarity accounts for only 20% of newly built homes – the author also calls the market “not fluid.”
“Some choke points in the market will have fewer potential matches for first-time home buyers,” said Thomas Malone, an economist with Cotality, a real estate data provider. “This is a cascade effect. One pocket in the market has less supply. This makes it less available for those looking for it, meaning they’ll stay at home.
Malone’s report tracks the history of American romance with larger assets and noted that a higher margin of larger homes is one of the key factors driving the suburbation of 20.th century.
But as developers move more and more outward, Malone writes: “These far-away lots will eventually decline. In the area of the suburbs, the land will no longer be able to offset prices, and developers will not be able to return to the urban environment and redevelop existing property.”
Chris Herbert is the managing director of Harvard’s Housing Research Center. This is a think tank whose annual publication, National Housing Signature, documents market challenges.
“When you say that the top line numbers need to have more units, it’s getting as much attention as it should,” Herbert said. As mentioned before, the general consensus among analysts is that the country is around 4 million housing units.
“But I think we need to pay attention to the fact that it’s not just an older unit, but a small unit that we need,” Herbert said in an interview. “It’s not that we’re not building anything, but what we’re building is a very large, very expensive apartment and a single family home.”
The newly constructed house is still big
The bloating of American dreams can be most clearly seen in detached houses. In the first quarter of 2025, the newly constructed detached home averaged 2,408 square feet. These numbers were even higher when home builders were picking up pieces from crashes a few years after the residential bubble bar burst in the 2000s and building only the best margin properties.
But it’s not just home builders who protect their margins that conspire to keep their properties bigger. Herbert believes regulations will play an oversized role. In the cotality report, Malone writes about builders leaving to redevelop existing properties, adding that such projects are often referred to as “infills” and “limited by various benefits limiting the types of new homes accepted.”
Herbert sees that firsthand in the expensive suburbs around Boston and Cambridge. This is a local government code that claims larger lots, minimum housing sizes, parking for new developments, and more.
“We don’t allow density of single family housing in a way that really requires it,” he said.
A house is not just a home
Lowell, Massachusetts is about 30 miles from Harvard, with the exception of the world. Kathy Mercado grew up in public housing and is now executive director of Merrimack Valley Housing Partnership, a nonprofit organization that offers homeownership counseling, affordable housing developments and more.
One of MVHP’s most proud recent achievements is acres of cross-home homes, affordable condominiums for low and moderate income residents.
Mercado calls the condominiums “Stepping Stones.” They can become starter homes to build equity and then move on – or they can be a place to settle for empty Nesters who can no longer afford utility and insurance on larger properties.
Or they can become eternal homes, Mercado said. Growing up in the neighborhood, she is troubled by the notion that “real home” is synonymous with living in the suburban sprawl. “You don’t need to have a home with a white picket fence,” she said. “Housing is not a luxury. It’s about sustainability and stability, and the roof above your head.”
In 2013, Michelle Radar and her husband purchased a modest home in Los Angeles County and a modest home for their young son. The family has since been added, but the central home is a basic two-bedroom, one-bathroom home built in the late 1940s, common in California and other suburban areas.
Unlike the corner of Sampson in Richmond, many new owners in Leder’s neighborhood choose to “demolate” their existing homes and build new ones. Usually a house big enough to get you closer to the old remaining properties.
“We can do that, but we chose not to,” Leder told USA Today. “I think this house works for a family of our size. Frankly, the idea of having to clean a big house isn’t very appealing to me. There’s no need to showcase the showcase house.”
Living within their means meant the flexibility of great life change. My family recently lived in Paris for a year.
But the reality of the housing market is that the 1,250-square-foot home built for GI and others to trek to suburban American dreams is not affordable for those who start. Her home has almost doubled in over a decade.
“It’s our retirement fund now,” she said.
