You may not all have a youthfully inappropriate sense of humor the way myself, friends and family do. If you do however, and you're a fan of the show "South Park", you may have seen their spoof on all of HGTV's rehabbing/remodeling shows. If you haven't, I highly recommend it. No one in my family can say "open concept" without keeling over laughing.
Why, as a super serious nerd and real estate advisor, would I be telling you about the ridiculous hilarity of an adult cartoon? Trends don't become funny until they are on their way out. For example, the 80's saw hair that seemed to fit the mantra: the bigger the better. The late 90's and early 00's had people paying to have their hair permanently straightened, myself included.
I'd still hold out for the ultimate wisdom, which to me is that everything comes back because life is a series of pendulum swings. We see swings from left to right in politics, wide leg to skinny pants in fashion, sleek and modern to warm and cozy in home decor. (Although boss lady hates yellow, she had big yellow, floral couches. We all make regrettable decisions). If we are to be cognizant of these pendulum swings and we know that open concept is officially hilarious, does that mean that we are moving to separation and closed off spaces? I would argue yes.
New construction homes are on smaller parcels and having an open concept actually becomes a natural fit and very conducive to a small footprint. Having defined spaces will require more space, more furnishings and ability to stylistically define the space. All of this equates to not only more money, but a certain level of luxury and disposable funds to achieve this goal. We're all social creatures and we're all subjective to the "keeping up with the Jones's" faults.
The final supportive nail in the coffin for closed concept: larger homes are the last frontier for good value or good deals. Pretty consistently, larger homes have struggled post recession and have been the slowest to recover and achieve their former glory and pre-recession high price points. Possible reasons why? It is significantly more expensive to remodel the 90's home and bring it into the 21st century if it is three times the size of the other homes that might be in a better location. As push comes to shove with pricing and people want more space for their families (considering aging Gen Xer families and suburbanization from millennials), there is great argument to support growth in the larger home, closed concept market.
Yes I did take South Park, something casual and fun, and I ruined it by majorly nerding out and assessing what a cartoon's sentiments were on design trends and the impact it could have on the real estate market. Welcome to the obsessive and compulsive trap that fills the void between my ears.
For HGTV's comments on design trends that are to be left in 2017, check out their article here.
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