Local St. Tammany Builder Matches National Trend for Home Size
Ron Lee Homes, a St. Tammany Parish builder which builds new, custom homes in the cities of Mandeville, Covington, Madisonville, and Abita Springs, has been consistently building what the industry terms “McMansions” on the Northshore of New Orleans for over10 years. Now, a report has been released by the National Association of Home Builders that shows that the percentage of larger homes built since 2005 has significantly increased.
The AVERAGE size of new homes in 2013 is 2,600 square feet, which is up from the “housing bubble years” when it was 2,400 square feet. Ron Lee homes builds many new homes which range from 3,200 – 6,000 square feet. This group of homes, homes which are in the range of 4,000 square feet and up is called “mega homes.” The percentage of mega homes built has increased almost 3% since 2005 – at 9%, up from 6.6%. And, homes ranging in size from 3,000 – 4,000 square feet has increase from 15.6% in 2005 to 21.7% in 2013.
One factor which does affect and skew the statistics is the fact that first-time home buyers are having a difficult time qualifying for a new home. Because of the Great Recession, students who graduated from college with an expectation of how the job market would assist them with future income found themselves without a entry-level career job and mountains of student loans. During the Recession, the housing industry saw a huge increase of 20 – 30-year-old people moving back in with parents, friends, or relatives because of the lack of employment which would help them pay their bills. So, with the lack of income, heightened debt, and
many builders completely “stalling” on putting new inventory on the ground, the first-time housing market declined to 4% in 2013 compared to 9% in 2005. A single-family, first-time home size is 1,400 square feet or less.
St. Tammany Parish’s population constitutes home buyers with a slightly higher-than-average income level, so the building of 3,000 – 4,000 square foot and “McMansions” trends normally in this area. Even during the slower real estate years past, the business of building for Ron Lee Homes truly showed this trend with new and custom homes being built with more accessories as well as larger square footage. For more information about building your new, custom home in St. Tammany Parish, Contact Ron Lee Homes at 985-626-7619 or E-mail [email protected].
