By Bill Hethcock | Dallas Business Journal
For some folks, a larger home lot just means more area to maintain, but given the choice, most homeowners prefer a bigger backyard and a little more land between themselves and their neighbors.
But lot sizes in the Valley and statewide are shrinking, and a new study reveals that Arizona is among the states with the smallest lots per square foot.
Angi, an online home services company, estimated the average lot size in each state and major metro based on more than 390,000 single-family home listings from Zillow.
When it comes to lot size, the Grand Canyon State has the third-smallest lot average area in the nation. The study found that the typical lot size in Arizona is a mere 8,726 square feet.
That’s more than five Olympic-size swimming pools smaller than Vermont, which has the nation’s largest lots, at 78,409 square feet on average. Lots in Arizona are also almost an acre smaller than second-ranked New Hampshire, where the typical lot size is 49,223 square feet.
Nevada had the nation’s smallest lots, with a typical size of 7,405 square feet. California also came in with smaller lot sizes than Arizona, with a slightly smaller 8,327 square feet.
The Angi study offers a couple of explanations: Many Vermont towns have strict zoning laws that set minimum lot sizes to preserve low population density and protect environmentally sensitive areas. By contrast, in Nevada as in Arizona, rapid housing growth and dry land encourage compact lawns.
Turning to metro areas, Phoenix-Mesa-Chandler ranked 94th in the nation, with a typical lot size of 7,985 square feet.
Read More (subscriber content)
Some stories may only appear as partial reprints because of publisher restrictions.