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Sizing up

More floor space, more volume, lots of glass, open floor plan - and a lower price, along with energy efficiency? As the song says, you can't always get what you want.

By JUDY STARK
Published February 5, 2005

It's time to biggie size the American home.

After holding steady for four years at 2,325 square feet, the typical American home this year will grow to about 2,350 square feet.

And look up: Volume is increasing. A third of homes have 9-foot ceilings, and that percentage will grow, predicted Gopal Ahluwalia, staff vice president for research at the National Association of Home Builders, at the group's annual convention last month in Orlando.

When it comes to energy efficiency, buyers are of two minds. "They want energy efficiency, but they want a two-story entry, lots of glass and high ceilings," Ahluwalia said. "They want an open floor plan. That's really key, a free flow of traffic."

Buyers acknowledge the high cost of energy, he said, "but they're willing to pay for it."

Consumers "want a whole lot of things," Ahluwalia said, but they're not always willing to pay for them. Buyers nationally want their next home to be 33 percent larger than their present home, but they're willing to pay only 12 percent more.

The No. 1 design feature that buyers said was essential or a "must-have"? A laundry room. No. 2 was a linen closet for white, African-American and Hispanic buyers, and a dining room for Asian buyers. (See accompanying chart for a breakdown by ethnic group.)

The top two community amenities nationally were walking/jogging trails (57 percent) and a park area (54 percent). Trails ranked first for white and Asian buyers, second for African-American and Hispanic buyers, and vice versa for second place. African-Americans and Hispanics ranked a convenience store or drugstore third; whites ranked it fourth.

Buyers' commitment to green building and sustainable practices goes only so far. Eighteen percent said they would pay more for green/environmentally friendly features, Ahluwalia said. More than a third said they were concerned about the environment but wouldn't pay more, and a quarter said they weren't concerned and wouldn't pay.

"Buyers are interested in a five-year payback," Ahluwalia said. "If they know they can save $5,000 or $6,000" by installing a "green" feature, at a rate of $1,000 a year, "they can see that far out." But a longer payback is of no interest, because they figure they won't own the house long enough to get their money back.

[Last modified February 4, 2005, 11:03:08]