The National Association of Home Builders, is a Washington based trade association.  They represents more than 222,000 members involved in residential and light commercial construction.  They have come up with some wants and needs of home buyers today.

Given the choice between more space or higher quality features, the latter was overwhelmingly opted for.  Given the choice between a larger home or more amenities 63% chose the amenities.  57% preferred them to be included in the base cost of the new home.  43% wanted them to be offered as extras for an additional  cost.

What do these home buyers want?

Kitchen with a walk in pantry 84%

Island work area 77%

Special-use storage 62%

Built in Microwave 62%

Kitchen open and visible to the family room 34%

Linen closets in bathroom 91%

Exhaust Fan 88%

Separate shower enclosure 78%

9 ft. ceilings are more popular than ft. makes the house feel more open, bigger and brighter.

Asked about more space in the master bedroom or more in the master bath, 69% wanted more room in the master bedroom.

Looking for trends in the next 5 years.  Predicted is low maintenance, energy efficiency, natural materials, synthetic stucco,and security on the outside of the house.

Another emerging item in higher end homes is a bonus room above the 3 car garage.  These rooms can be over a 1000 ft and include a full bath.  It is used as a guest room, office, or in law quarters.  

In an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal, our local paper.  Master planned communities with neighborhoods of single family homes are on their way out and townhome communities are on the way in.  The main reason is the lack of land left in the Las Vegas area.  The land that is left is is very costly.  Las Vegas is part of a nationwise move toward urban living.  Townhomes,Condo's,Hisrise,Midrise,and the towers.  The move towards this way of living is the boomers.  They don't want to take care of houses anymore.  So they are very interested in this lifestyle. 

I have read two articles in the past two weeks asking if single story family homes are going to become extinct.  WOW I never thought about that before.   With the costs of building and land prices having gone up in the Las Vegas valley the talk around town centers on buzz words such as mid-level, high rise, low rises, and condo conversions.  Even our detatched homes are becoming three story.  Consider that a single story home is somewhat limited as far as building is concerned.  Lot sizes and it generally costs more to build a single story home. You have to consider things like the concrete slab, roof area, and the truss area.

The other article I read speculated that in 7-10 years the tradional subdivision as we see all over this valley right now will be the thing of the past.  Clark County's Multispecies Habitat Conservation Plan ( now thats a mouthful and where did they come up with that name?) has capped future development in the county at 78,000 acres.  The builders in the valley build on about 7,000 to 9,000 acres a year, leaving enough land for 8-10 years. 

But the article went on to say price and land aside, more and more people have a preference for the vertical lifestyle.  Lets look at the home buying pool, single women were second behind married couples and had a 21% overall purchase, with single men buying 9%.  Single women have very specific housing demands.  They want security, proximity to neighbors they know and a lock and leave lifestyle that allows them to travel and do things without worrying about a lawn.  

Also the oldest of the boomers are turning 60, as consumers gray, they are demanding a streamline lifesyle.  The expansive suburban home with all it entails made sense when they had growing families, now are a burden.  

Will the single family home just disappear?  I know that there are many vertical masterplans in the work but I don't think the tradional subdivison builder will just take their tools and go else where.