Americans Downsizing, Smaller Homes and the Death of Bathtubs

The recent “near record high” home prices are leading to a surge in demand for smaller homes and inspiring more American home buyers to consider downsizing to homes without luxuries like bathtubs or dining rooms. The average size of homes sold across the country is ranging from 10% to 20% smaller than just a few years ago. The shift has already started to transform many related markets, as furniture manufacturers offer more customization and create designs for smaller spaces, and homeowners are using landscaping to create more defined outdoor spaces with privacy.

At the same time as you have this downsizing trend, America is also facing a severe housing crisis, people who had invested in second properties hoping to rent them through Airbnb are struggling due to oversupply (dubbed the “Airbnbust”) and stories of “ghost towns” filled with uninhabited housing across China all offer reminders of the housing inequity across the world. As our population ages, the way we live will also shift and more stories like this will come. Today, the flux might make bathtubs a bygone symbol of the past. Tomorrow it may be something even more surprising.