If you’re looking for a new apartment or condo and it seems smaller than you expected, you’re not imagining things: downsizing has become widespread.
New research from Storage Sense, which runs storage facilities and would of course benefit from this trend, shows that apartments and condominiums in many major American cities have gotten smaller over the past six years, some at double-digit rates. The trend cuts across all areas of the country but is more prevalent in southern and sunbelt cities.
Washington, DC, topped the list, showing a 14.6 percent decrease in the size of an average apartment, from 868 square feet in 2018 to 746 square feet in 2004. Las Vegas had the second-greatest decrease in living space, down 12.11 percent from 1,065 square feet to 936 square feet.
Rounding out the list around the country were:
- San Francisco: -12.11 percent
- Dallas: -11.13 percent
- Colorado Springs, CO: -9.71 percent
- Phoenix: -7.81 percent
- Houston: -6.97 percent
- Jacksonville, FL: -6.47 percent
- Baltimore: -6.43 percent
Storage Sense, which operates facilities in 30 states around the country, also found that rental prices in most of these cities with smaller units increased, some by as much as nearly 31 percent as they did in Las Vegas.
