Do You Really Need 3800 Square Feet To Be Happy?
Why Americans love huge houses.
I was chatting with my friend and fellow writer, Hope, who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. She has a cute, small apartment on the upper floor of her building, which looks out across the city, with its charming 17th and 18th century townhomes, weathered cobblestone streets, and flowing canals that draw tourists from around the world.
But it comes with a price, and a heavy one at that. She and her husband are looking to build their own home, somewhere outside the city, but that is proving challenging too. When we began talking houses, she was quite surprised at the size of my house and those in my area — though they aren’t enormous by any means — for America.
We have a big house problem, or benefit, depending on how you look at it.
The United States is second only to Australia in average home size at 1901 square feet (multiply this by .093 to get the approximate conversion to square meters). Yet when you look at new home constructions within the past few years, homes are averaging close to 2200 square feet and they’re getting larger.
Meanwhile, Denmark’s average house size is around 1400 square feet — which is a significant difference. This trend in mega homes has interesting origins, and consequences we should…
