Chicago Illinois Real Estate Blog

Jennifer Lister served her time. As a kid, she helped mow and rake her parents’ lawn in Wilmette. So when she and her husband, Eric Masters, who grew up with similar chores, bought a home in 2006 where they could raise their children, now ages 1 and 4, they chose a townhouse, sans yard, at Belgravia Group’s Hartland Park in Chicago.

"We have a playground and open field a half-block away," said Lister. "Why take care of a yard when we can have this space right here?"

Thanks to millions of home buyers who echo Lister’s sentiment, the Great American Yard could go the way of the wooden toboggan slide and the Sunday drive. For many of today’s home buyers who opt for multifamily homes, common space is the new backyard.

While moving to single-family houses in the ‘burbs, where big yards abound, was automatic for millions of Baby Boomers when they married and had kids, many of their children, including Lister and Masters, have no such intention. "We’d rather be in the city, where we can walk to everything," said Lister.

Lot sizes for new, single-family houses shrank from 1976 to 2006, according to the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). During those decades, the percentage of houses on lots less than 7,000 square feet (approximately one-sixth acre) grew to 35 percent from 18 percent. Those on 11,000-square-foot (one-quarter acre) dwindled from 41 percent to 32 percent.

During the same 30-year period, the average house size grew to 2,469 square feet from 1,700, thus gobbling up more of the yard.

"It’s a combination of things," said Steve Melman, economist at the NAHB. "Baby Boomers want less yard and no maintenance. The 20-somethings want proximity to entertainment and jobs instead of suburban houses with big yards. The last thing they want to do is mow. The middle group between, with kids, wants some yard but doesn’t have all weekend to ride a riding mower. They have soccer matches to get to."

The families that used to comprise that yard-loving segment have changed, added Jim Schwab, senior researcher at the American Planning Association in Chicago.

"Two incomes mean they have less time for lawn maintenance," said Schwab. "They have fewer kids who need the yard and fewer kids to help mow it. This doesn’t even factor in the rising cost of gas, which makes the cornfield subdivision with big yards less attractive and close-to-public-transportation, in-town homes with smaller yards more attractive."
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