American homeowners are wasting more space than ever before

There may not be a lot of homes for sale these days, but there is a lot of housing space sitting empty.

There may not be a lot of homes for sale these days, but there is a lot of housing space sitting empty. In fact, the most in recorded history.

The number of extra bedrooms, which is defined as a bedroom in excess of the number of people in the home, and even including one for an office, has reached the highest level since the U.S. Census began recording this metric in 1970, according to a new report from Realtor.com.

Last year, which is the latest Census data available, the number of extra bedrooms reached 31.9 million, up from 31.3 million in 2022. Back in 1980, there were just 7 million extra bedrooms.

The fourfold jump comes as the number of people in any given household has declined, from a high of 3.1 persons per household in 1970 to a record low 2.5 per household in 2023.

“We are seeing more guest rooms for two main reasons: homes getting bigger and household size getting smaller,” said Ralph McLaughlin, senior economist at Realtor.com. “What’s more, we find that spare rooms are more popular in cheaper areas where it’s more affordable to buy a home with extra bedrooms.” 

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/real-estate/american-homeowners-are-wasting-space-ever-rcna184753

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