Last week on our Facebook Fan Page I posed the questions “Should someone looking to buy a new home try to find the smallest possible house that will fit their needs? In addition do you think people take this into consideration when looking for a home these days?“ The responses to the first questions were overwhelmingly “yes”, but most people don’t believe a small size is one of the top decision factors in purchases.

The average American home grew at an unprecedented rate to 2,629 square feet in 2008 from 1,695 square feet in 1974. But recently USA Today posted an article mentioning the drop in the average size home in America during the fourth quarter of last year. “New homes, after doubling in size since 1960, are shrinking. Last year, for the first time in at least 10 years, the average square footage of single-family homes under construction fell dramatically, from 2,629 in the second quarter to 2,343 in the fourth quarter, Census data shows.” After such a long stint of growth why the change? It’s more likely due to the recession that we’ve gone through but it will be interesting to see if this number stabilizes, grows, or even start to nose dive.

The reason I find this topic interesting comes from a column in the New York Times with Thomas Friedman who’s been arguing that clean technology will be the next great global industry. “Even if climate change proves less catastrophic than some fear, in a world that is forecast to grow from 6.7 billion to 9.2 billion people between now and 2050, more and more of whom will live like Americans, demand for renewable energy and clean water is going to soar. It is obviously going to be the next great global industry.” The population numbers alone are staggering, but it’s even more interesting to think about the housing that will be needed. Will the current average square foot house be sustainable?

Maybe the new list of home purchase decision factors will start to look like this –

- What are the environmental effects?

- If I but a bigger house what will my mortgage be?  Higher mortgage payment means more energy goes into paying for housing

- What are my taxes and insurance?

- How much time and money will I need to invest to keep it clean

- How energy efficient is this home? How much are utility bills?

- How many rooms do I have to furnish?

What do you think will be the questions that we ask ourselves when Americans purchase a new home in the future?