Even as the housing market has bounced back, it has become increasingly skewed toward bigger, less affordable homes. According to recent U.S. Census figures, 43 percent of new homes sold for more than $300,000, while just 8 percent sold for less than $150,000. That last number is a sharp decline from roughly 20 percent in August 2011. Looking at 2002 figures, you can see an even more drastic change—that year the number homes sold for less than $150,000 was 30 percent, according to the blog Calculated Risk.
Many have pointed to the possibility of smaller, micro-homes as a solution to the housing affordability problem. I have argued that a shift from sprawl toward smaller homes in denser areas and from homeownership to renting is a key element of the longer-run reset of the economy.
