11 Best-Selling Home Styles and Popular Choices of Homeowners
What are today’s best-selling home styles?
Many aspiring homeowners want to know. Knowing the home styles that trend can help them make a more informed decision about their likes (and dislikes) when planning to build or buy a new home.
If you are an aspiring homeowner, deciding what you want is always a challenge, at least for many. But it should not be. You either want a popular style (to stay safe) or something unique, a deviation from the norm.
From modern container homes to A-frame houses, cottages and chalets with patio surrounds, there are building styles that have stood the test of time and are still relevant in this day and age.
11 Best-Selling Home Styles
We all have diverse tastes. While some will veer towards traditional home designs, many prefer the sleek lines of modern architecture. One thing they have in common? They like homes with modern interior features like open floor plans, high ceilings, split-level floors, master bedroom suites, en-suite bedrooms, home entertainment rooms, and outdoor living spaces. They also desire innovative storage solutions and luxury fittings and fixtures.
Below are some of the most popular and best-selling home styles of them all. And though it is not listed in any particular order, these residential designs are what most aspiring homeowners opt for.
- Craftsman architectural style– This is a great favourite for those who love classic home designs. They are large, feature natural stone and wood, and are currently the most popular style on the market.
- Prairie-style houses– Today’s prairie-style plans, not unlike the traditional layouts, consist of open floor plans with free-flowing spaces that flow between the indoors and outdoors. Said to be the first original American architectural style, their features include low-pitched or flat roofs, overhanging eaves, and clerestory windows.
- Mediterranean home designs– The architectural home styles from the Mediterranean region (Greece, Spain, France, and Italy) are most recognized by plaster walls, wrought iron, patios, wood beams, and tiled roofs. Their designs often extend outdoors into courtyards or verandas.
- French eclectic home designs– Eclectic styles have symmetrical or asymmetrical facades made with stone, bricks, and stucco. They have characteristic tall, steeply pitched, hipped roofs with narrow eaves. Roof materials are tile, slate, and shingles. They neither have porches nor veranda but come with balustrade terraces off first-floor rooms.
- New American home design – This style combines elements from various architectural styles to create an entirely new look. Features of interest include soaring entryways, a mix of different materials, prominent garages and plenty of interior space.
- Country-style homes– These designs are easily recognized by their influence from 18th-century colonial homes. They feature wide porches, shutters, and meticulously spaced windows and wood accents.
- European style homes– This home style is fashioned after beautiful French, Italian, and English architecture and features plaster walls, marble floors, and centrepiece fireplaces. Their elegance has captivated homeowners for centuries.
- Cottage home plans– A Colonial style that stems from the homes of the first colonial settlements. They are often small-sized homes with features that include a large front porch, painted woodwork, and a small second story. The charm of a cottage house is too irresistible to pass up.
- Southern style– These American home designs are built for the hot, humid climate typical of the South. Their features include wide roof overhangs, wood shutters, and wrap-around porches.
- Ranch home styles– Also known as Rambler style, they became popular in the mid-20th century and are often built in an L-shape, U-shape, or rectangle shape. Ranch-style homes are most often single-story structures.
- Modern home designs– Modern house designs are mainly pre-fab and are designed to look (and feel) clean, open, peaceful, and relaxing. Modern home styles embrace the sharp, sleek, and minimalist aesthetics of the ‘tech-hungry’ homeowner.
Many of these home designs have modern versions that appeal to most aspiring homeowners.
The best-selling home styles tend to be small to medium-sized. This is basically because of the down-sized living trend. Another reason is that people are smart and like to be realistic. They know that the larger a house is, the more money it will cost to build. And then there is the question of whether you need all that space.