Real Estate
DC Homes Are Ridiculously Tiny
It's no secret that you get less space for more money in the D.C. area -- but you might be surprised at how much less space.
WASHINGTON, DC — For most people who live in D.C., it hurts every time you write that rent check, especially considering the meager amount of space you get in return -- and a new study finds that you may have a reason to gripe.
A recent analysis by PropertyShark.com examined the changes in new home sizes in the 32 largest U.S. cities over the decades, and found that D.C. was 4th among the cities with the smallest homes currently being built, behind only Boston, San Francisco and Miami, according to a statement.
New homes built in D.C. in the 1910s spanned about 1,378 square feet on average, but homes built in this decade are coming in at a median of just 1,189 square feet -- a decline of nearly 14 percent.
Find out what's happening in Washington DCfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Think that's still a decent amount of space? In Orlando, Fla., the average new home size is 2,988 square feet -- nearly triple the size of your typical D.C. space.
The good thing is that even though total space has shrunk in the D.C. area, so has the average size of the family that has to live there: from 4.54 people per household in 1910 to 2.58 people in 2015.
Find out what's happening in Washington DCfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
You can read more about the study here.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.