The United States may be struggling with a shortage of homes for sale, but there are plenty of empty bedrooms and housing spaces sitting empty. In fact, the share of extra rooms has hit a record number.
That is according to a new report from Realtor.com, which examined trends in excess or guest bedrooms across the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country. The analysis defined extra space as a bedroom that is in excess of the number of people in a household.
The report found that, in 2023, the total number of extra bedrooms and housing space in the US reached 31.9 million. That is up from 31.3 million in 2022 and more than four times the seven million excess space recorded in 1980.
In addition, Realtor.com also analyzed the share of bedrooms that can also be considered guest rooms and found that those account for 8.8% of all bedrooms in the US. In comparison, there were only 8.7% of bedrooms of this type the prior year and 3.5% in 1980.
Why Is There Extra Space in US Homes?
The growing share of excess bedrooms in the US is driven primarily by two factors: an increase in the number of rooms per home and a decline in the number of members per household.
"We are seeing more guest rooms for two main reasons: homes getting bigger and household size getting smaller," Ralph McLaughlin, senior economist at Realtor.com., said, as quoted by CNBC.
To put things into perspective, there were 3.1 people per household in 1970. This has fallen to 2.5 last year---a historic low. Recent demographic trends reflect the decline. More baby boomers are becoming empty nesters, which means their children have already grown up and left home. Millennials are also now marrying later and having fewer or no children.
Where Is There the Most Extra Space?
The share of homes with the most extra spaces was significantly pronounced in the Mountain West and South. This is due to the regions having larger space for homes, and homes are typically built bigger.
In contrast, metropolitan areas such as Miami and West Palm Beach had the least share of excess bedrooms.
