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- Info
Hottest hits in single-family housing
| Author: |
Becker, T.J. |
| Date: |
1996 |
| Periodical: |
Urban Land. Washington DC: The Urban Land Institute |
| Abstract: |
At ULI's 1995 fall meeting in Philadelphia last November, a panel of leading architects and planners from around the United States sliced and diced trends in single-family production housing at a session titled "The Hottest Hits in Housing from Coast to Coast." Smaller lots dominated much of the discussion. Although sales of high-density detached houses in communities in California and other West Coast states-and in retirement communities elsewherehave been strong for some time, the East Coast is just now starting to see interest from the mass market, reports William J. Devereaux, principal of Devereaux & Associates in McLean, Virginia. Devereaux chalks up the greater consumer acceptance to more diverse demographics. "Ozzie and Harriet" families no longer dominate the residential market. Singles, childless couples, divorcees, and single parents also are interested in single-family detached housing and "they don't necessarily need a quarter-acre to go play catch with the kids," says Devereaux. Yet even as high-density- detached housing gains ground throughout the country, its execution and definition varies considerably. "It's a regional question. `Small lot' means different things to different people," explains Arthur C. Danielian, president of Danielian Associates in Irvine, California. In northern and southern California, buyers have embraced cluster developments with as many as 14 units to the acre. In the Southeast, however, the shift toward smaller lots is probably best described as "higher density as opposed to high density," reports J. Carson Looney, principal at Memphis-based Looney Ricks Kiss Architects, Inc. In his region, 3,000-square-foot lots are considered tight. In still other areas of the country, like Arizona, "high density" translates into 5,000square-foot lots. Lot shapes also vary from region to region. In the northern part of the United States, square lots are more common than the long, narrow ones that are popular in warmer areas. "Depth is not as useful there," says Bloodgood, explaining that in colder climates, houses that sprawl around small courtyards-like they do in California-make little sense. In the Midwest, says Bloodgood, such courtyards would be quickly transformed into pools of mud. |
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