The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

Agreed that mix can cause an upward bias in the average square feet per home during a relatively short period; however, the average square footage has been clearly up during the past several years, and this is likely to continue on a long-term basis even when the mix changes to a larger proportion of starter homes.

Moreover, the number of permits for new single-family homes has recently shown strength even as the number of new homes started has fallen slightly, which suggests that the latter metric will begin to rise again in the near future.