Dear Sr. Gannon,
Thank you for an excellent and enlightening assesment of the housing market in Spain, and in general. Not too long ago, there were two similar threads by Barry and Jbach, which were also excellent.
You mention our need for excess space in the U.S.
Just after the Second World War the average American family of four lived in a house of approximately 850 sqft. growing to 950 sqft. in 1960, 1,100 sqft. in 1970 and now a whopping 2,500 sqft. So it would seem that along with the size of most Americans and spending-power their expectations for minimal living space has ballooned.
That is certainly very true. There are a couple of reasons for this. One reason for the excess space is that a home also becomes an entertainment center. Unless one lives in a very big city, like Boston, Philadelphia, New York, or even Miami, where there is entertainment and outside activities galore, our home becomes a cultural nest of sorts. So we add all the accouterments that would make it a nice place to be, in between trips to Spain, that is.
The second reason is zoning laws that prohibit easy living.
I posit that this may be why in such large U.S. cities, people are more than satisfied with smaller places, because there is so much to do outside one's home, that it is not necessary to have so much space.
When I visited a friend in Santiago de Compostela, she, her husband, her child and her mother, lived in a 2 bedroom apartment. I would say less than 1000 sq. feet. But, they had a lovely park and church, well within a couple of blocks. They had a gym, cafe, and bakery in the bottom floor of her building. A bar not three doors down.
This is fairly typical in Spain, and that I believe is one of the reasons why living in even small Spanish cities is such a delight.
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