5 Southern cities where houses are shrinking

• The typical home for sale in the South is smaller than it was pre-pandemic.
• Builders are constructing smaller homes and many homes for sale are in denser places, like cities.

More smaller homes are on the market in the South than pre-pandemic, Danielle Hale, Realtor.com's chief economist, told Insider.

Realtor.com's September monthly housing market trends report showed the average price per square foot rose by 52% in the South this year when compared to the same statistic from 2017 to 2019. It's driven the median listing price of homes up 35.7%. The difference between the rise in price per square foot and the rise in median listing price suggests, Hale said, that as listing prices were rising, the size of the homes for sale were shrinking.

"It might be that we're seeing more homes for sale in the more dense areas of these metros, where homes would likely be smaller," she said. "It might also be the case that new construction homes are a more significant share of active listings in these areas, and Census data has shown that builders are adapting to high home prices by cutting home size to enable more housing affordability."

Below, five cities in the South where homes have gotten smaller as they've gotten more expensive since the start of the pandemic.

Chattanooga, Tennessee

Chattanooga, Tennessee.      Getty Images

Change in price per square foot: 73.9%

Typical size of a home from 2017 to 2019: 2,162 square feet

Typical price of a home from 2017 to 2019: $261,418

Typical size of a home in 2023: 2,097 square feet

Typical price of a home in 2023: $425,313

Columbia, South Carolina

Columbia, South Carolina.      Getty Images

Change in price per square foot: 54.2%

Typical size of a home from 2017 to 2019: 2,200 square feet

Typical price of a home from 2017 to 2019: $214,150

Typical size of a home in 2023: 2,182 square feet

Typical price of a home in 2023: $314,950

Birmingham, Alabama

Birmingham, Alabama.      Isabella Pino/REDA&CO/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Change in price per square foot: 35.6%

Typical size of a home from 2017 to 2019: 1,947 square feet

Typical price of a home from 2017 to 2019: $232,458

Typical size of a home in 2023: 1,858 square feet

Typical price of a home in 2023: $288,523

Greensboro-High Point, North Carolina

Greensboro, North Carolina.      Dave5957/Getty Images

Change in price per square foot: 63.9%

Typical size of a home from 2017 to 2019: 2,198 square feet

Typical price of a home from 2017 to 2019: $232,505

Typical size of a home in 2023: 1,774 square feet

Typical price of a home in 2023: $333,433

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky.      Adam Jones/Getty Images

Change in price per square foot: 44.4%

Typical size of a home from 2017 to 2019: 2,069 square feet

Typical price of a home from 2017 to 2019: $255,474

Typical size of a home in 2023: 1,865 square feet

Typical price of a home in 2023: $315,504