Daily Real Estate NewsJune 15, 2007
What sells in a down housing market? Builders report that their top-selling high-end homes feature less conventional floor plans, many of them designed to accommodate shrinking lot sizes. Also, the popular models include ways to cleverly do more, often with less space.
The best-selling La Jolla model by Drees Homes in Fort Mitchell, Ky., puts the front door off to the side of house instead of at the center, which creates a slanted hallway to the main rooms. Bensalem, Pa.-based Orleans Homebuilders’ Bradford Grand II offers a similar idea, twisting the center staircase so it opens to the side rather than the front, improving sightlines throughout the house.
Instead of a formal living room, the 2,300-square-foot Cartier plan offered by David Weekley comes with a study and a sunroom, both with angle walls that keep the floor plan from feeling boxy. Nationwide, sunrooms are becoming a standard feature in many of the top-selling models. Hovnanian’s Hartford model, the company’s best seller in the Northeast, has both a sunroom at the back of the house and a conservatory to the side.
Even the smallest of the best sellers at the upper end of the price range have retained dining rooms. Builders say buyers want them even if they don’t use them. Meanwhile, many of the homes also feature spacious “morning rooms” for family meals and two butler’s pantries to accommodate this design are becoming more popular.
Source: The Wall Street Journal, June Fletcher (06/15/07)
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