McMansion Saga

From UT San Diego

America has too many big houses -- 40 million, to be exact -- because consumers are shifting preferences to condos, apartments and small homes, experts told the New Partners for Smart GrowthThursday, holding its 11th annual conference in San Diego through Sunday.

Relying on developers' surveys, Chris Nelson, who heads theMetropolitan Research Centerat the University of Utah, said 43 percent of Americans prefer traditional big, suburban homes but the rest don't.

"That means we are out of balance in terms of where the market is right now, let alone trending toward the future," he said.

He estimated that this demand suggests a need for 10 million more attached homes and 30 million more small homes on 4,000-square-foot lots or less. By contrast, demand for large-lot homes is 40 million less than currently available




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