The History of Measurements and Recent Changes

It used to be so simple. My house has 2000 ft.² of air-conditioned living area. Did you know that the history of measuring buildings dates back to about 3000 BC with the Egyptian cubit?  A few thousand years later man began to use his foot, hand, or possibly his stride to measure a building. A universal measuring system didn’t exist until the metric system was adopted somewhere around 1800. That was pretty much used by everyone except, of course, the United States. The US adopted and now still uses the Imperial system of inches, feet, pounds, ounces, etc.

 

A recent change as to how appraisers measure living areas has just been revised by the American National Standards Institute (ANCI) and subsequently adopted by Fannie Mae as of 1 April 2022. In time, these new standards will be adopted by all real estate professionals, lenders, and market participants.

 

So, is your 2000 sf home still the same size? Maybe, maybe not. These recent changes will require appraisers to exclude or at least treat different stairwells, elevator shafts, and closets under stairwells. Also, sloped or lower ceiling heights (particularly found in the older housing stock) will reduce the reported square footage. Also, room counts could change. For example, a dining “area” off of the kitchen with a chandelier hanging over it and open to the living room will now be counted as one room. Although not particularly relevant here in Florida, basements will also be treated differently depending on their level of finish and ceiling height.

 

Not so simple! Homeowners and other market experts (i.e. Realtors) thinking that the living area is 2000 ft.², might find that a different figure is reported.