During The Great Recession, the small-is-better crowd seemed to be winning. After decades of upsizing and the spread of suburban McMansions, the average size of new U.S. single-family homes fell. Yes, it actually shrank.

Architects such as Sarah Susanka, author of the Not So Big House series, cheered the slight downsizing—about 5 percent from 2007 to 2010. They wondered whether their less-is-more view had finally become the new Zeitgeist or whether Americans were simply strapped for cash.

Turns out, it was just the economy. The shrinking didn’t last, and new U.S. homes are now bigger than ever, according to the most recent