During the last housing bubble, we saw large homes that seemed to be getting larger and larger. This led to the term “McMansion” being born. A “McMansion” (a play on the McDonald’s supersized culture) refers to a large house in a tract-built subdivision. These houses were sometimes constructed using a combination of low-quality materials and craftsmanship, as well as utilizing architectural symbols to display the owner’s wealth. As the great recession hit, several of these projects laid dormant or were built slowly over the decade of recovery.
Today, both younger and older homeowners are still stinging from the great recession. As a result, they are being drawn to smaller homes on smaller lots with a focus on apartments, townhomes, mixed-use developments or “live, work, play” neighborhoods. These projects are located in urban areas or centers of suburban communities and are typically developed surrounding mass transit. Some recognizable names in NJ are Pier Village and Bellworks. Unlike the McMansions we saw in the past, these projects can be found in urban and suburban locations and are centered around a community.
WJH is proud to be working on mixed-use projects in Asbury, Long Branch, and Sea Bright as well as apartment projects in Bordentown and Ewing Townships. As of today, single-family homes on large lots represent only a small portion of our current projects.
Developers are bringing plenty of multi-family housing to the market. But the market will determine if this trend will continue or if the McMansions will ever make a comeback….
We want to know your thoughts on where you think the trends will move towards! Call or e-mail us today!
