06/03/2026
Less House, More Home: Why Smaller Homes Are Paying Off for Today’s Buyers
You started shopping with a specific mental image of your future home in your mind. Then the houses in your budget came in smaller than you pictured.
That’s the reality for a lot of buyers right now. Affordability is tight.
Especially right now, when affordability is a key concern, they’re building homes with smaller square footage than a decade ago. And that’s good because that may be more within budget for many buyers. It’s part of why new home prices recently hit a 5-year low.
Just in case you don’t have a ton of new builds in your area, another avenue worth exploring is condominiums or condos.
Part of that is because condos are typically smaller. And smaller square footage can come with a smaller price tag too. That’s a selling point to affordability-strapped buyers right now – and it’s one of the reasons we’re seeing a bump in condo sales. For buyers crunching numbers to make the math work, condos can take real pressure off the budget.
Whether it’s a condo complex or a neighborhood of detached single-family homes, the right community can give you back in amenities what you trade in square footage.
Today’s smaller single-family homes and condos have more going for them than the square footage suggests. They can give your budget some breathing room and put you in a community designed with lifestyle in mind.