About 8% of US homeowners wish they had bought a bigger home, versus roughly
5% who regret buying too much space, according to Bankrate’s 2024 survey of
homeowners with purchase regrets. The gap is narrow — 3 percentage points — and
the finding cuts against the popular “don’t buy too much house” advice. Among
homeowners who have any regret at all (47% of the total), “too small” ranks
second at 18%, while “too big” comes in at 10%, behind maintenance costs,
location, overpaying, and mortgage rates. The pattern extends beyond housing:
vehicle buyers who chose a compact car and later needed a larger one face modest
upgrade costs, while those who bought an oversized SUV absorb years of higher
fuel, insurance, and depreciation on capacity they never use.
The small gap masks an asymmetry in how the two regrets feel. Right-sizers who
outgrow their space experience a concrete, daily friction: the cramped home
office, the bedroom that doubled as a nursery. Oversizers, by contrast, often
absorb their regret into adjacent financial complaints. Bankrate’s survey found
40% of regretful owners citing maintenance and hidden costs as their top
grievance, and 13% citing an unaffordable mortgage — both categories that
disproportionately affect those who bought more home than they needed. Genesove
and Mayer’s study of Boston condominiums showed that owners anchored to their
purchase price set asking prices 25–35% above market when facing a loss,
creating a psychological lock-in that makes downsizing from an oversized home
especially painful. Hedonic adaptation compounds the problem: the pleasure of
extra square footage fades within months, but the mortgage payment never adapts.
Neither side of this decision carries catastrophic regret rates. Both land under
10%, well below the 45% of renters who wish they had bought at all. The honest
read is that most homeowners, whether they sized up or sized down, would do the
same thing again. For buyers weighing the tradeoff today, the financial math
favors right-sizing: transaction costs for a future upgrade ($1,000–$5,000 for
a local move) are modest compared to years of carrying costs on unused space.
But the data does not support a strong directional claim. Individual variables —
market trajectory, family plans, remote-work permanence — swamp the aggregate
signal.
Источники: действие
Реестр утверждений
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18% of homeowners with regrets say they bought too small a house; 47% of all homeowners have at least one regret
Выдержка
“"Nearly half (47 percent) of current U.S. homeowners have a regret about their purchase. Among those with regrets, 18% say they bought too small of a house."
”
Данные источника:
2024-05-01
Дата обращения
2026-04-28
Расчёт
Bankrate's April 2024 nationally representative survey. 47% of homeowners report at least one regret. Of those, 18% cite "too small" as their regret. Population-level rate: 0.47 × 0.18 = 0.085, rounded to 0.08. This represents homeowners who, looking back, wish they had purchased a larger home — not necessarily people who deliberately right-sized, but the closest available proxy.
[2]Clever Real Estate — American Home Buyer Report: 2024 Edition
Авторитетный справочник
24% of recent homebuyers with regrets say their home doesn't meet all their needs
Выдержка
“"82% of recent buyers have at least one regret about their purchase. Among those with regrets, 24% say their home doesn't meet all their needs."
”
Данные источника:
2024-05-13
Дата обращения
2026-04-28
Расчёт
Clever Real Estate survey of 920 Americans who bought in 2023-2024. The 24% "doesn't meet all needs" is broader than pure size regret — it includes layout, features, and location — but corroborates the Bankrate finding that undersizing is a common regret category.
Источники: бездействие
Реестр утверждений
Каждое число ниже — это то, что сообщил источник, с дословной цитатой, на которую мы опирались, и тем, как мы пришли к нашей цифре. Нажмите на ссылку, чтобы проверить самостоятельно.
10% of homeowners with regrets say they bought too big a house; 47% of all homeowners have at least one regret
Выдержка
“"Among homeowners with regrets, 10% say their regret is that their home is too big. The most common regret overall is maintenance and hidden costs (40%), followed by buying too small (18%)."
”
Данные источника:
2024-05-01
Дата обращения
2026-04-28
Расчёт
Same Bankrate 2024 survey. 47% have regrets, 10% of those cite "too big." Population-level rate: 0.47 × 0.10 = 0.047, rounded to 0.05. Note that oversizing regret may be underreported because its costs (maintenance, utilities, mortgage strain) are captured by adjacent categories: 40% cite "maintenance/hidden costs" and 13% cite "mortgage too high." Those who bought too big may attribute regret to cost rather than size.
[2]The Quarterly Journal of Economics — Loss Aversion and Seller Behavior: Evidence from the Housing Market
Рецензируемая публикация
Owners facing nominal losses set asking prices 25-35% above expected sale price and exhibit much lower sale hazard
Выдержка
“"Condominium owners subject to nominal losses set higher asking prices of 25-35 percent of the difference between the property's expected selling price and their original purchase price, attain higher selling prices of 3-18 percent of that difference, and exhibit a much lower sale hazard than other sellers."
”
Данные источника:
2001-11-01
Дата обращения
2026-04-28
Расчёт
Genesove and Mayer (2001), data from downtown Boston condos in the 1990s. This study doesn't directly measure oversizing regret but documents the mechanism that traps oversizers: loss aversion anchors owners to their purchase price, making them reluctant to sell even when the home no longer fits. Owner-occupants show effects twice as large as investors. Cited as evidence that overprovisioning creates psychological lock-in beyond the financial cost.
Оговорки
No survey asks the precise question posed here — "did you deliberately right-size and regret it, or deliberately overprovision and regret it?" The Bankrate rates are derived from homeowners retrospectively judging whether their home is too small or too big, which conflates deliberate strategy with budget constraints and life changes. The 3-percentage-point gap is small enough that individual circumstances dominate the aggregate signal. Housing data is strongest; vehicle and general-purchase evidence is directional but thinner. In rapidly appreciating markets, oversizers are partially rescued by equity growth; in flat or declining markets, the cost penalty of extra square footage is amplified. The 40% who cite maintenance costs may include many oversizers who frame their regret as financial rather than spatial, which would narrow or reverse the gap if re-coded.
