Townhouses Trump McMansions As New Hot Property

When it comes to home size, American homebuyers are finally deciding that less really is more. They are cutting back on options and reducing square footage. More incredibly, they're buying townhouses instead of McMansions.

I about flipped when I got wind of a new development under construction in tony University Park here in Dallas. University Park is home to Southern Methodist University, the Bush Library, and so many McMansions that the National Trust for Historic Preservation included the Park Cities as an endangered community undergoing an accelerated amount of teardowns for years in a row.

The new development that sent me for smelling salts is The Courtyards at Normandy, a townhome community that plans the largest home to be no larger than 3,300 square feet, and most around 2,500.