Smaller homes are dominating the market, and designers are eliminating one surprising feature to make the most of the space. A recent survey of architectural designers found that they are removing hallways from their plans. Rather than making rooms smaller to reduce overall home size, designers say they are eliminating unnecessary circulation space by axing hallways. “Hallways aren’t places we spend time, so we can make them smaller without much impact on the buyer, as long as the house still flows well,” said Mikaela Arroyo, Vice President of the New Home Trends Institute. Single-family homes had a median 2,140 square feet of floor space in the first quarter of 2024, down 116 square feet from the same period in 2023. As homes shrink, people want and need square footage to go to places they use, not to wasted space. “Years ago, we had televisions that were the size of large moving boxes, and we had stereo equipment with a turntable, tape player, and speakers the size of 10-year olds,” said real estate agent Bruce Ailion. “Today, the TV is flat against the wall, and all our music is in a smartphone in our back pockets.” Just as the decor has changed, the size of houses are also changing.
