Forget the white picket fence: Is buying a townhouse the new American dream?

When Alisa Newman was shopping for a home earlier this year, she harbored no fantasies of a white picket fence surrounding a single-family home.Instead, she opted for a townhouse.“I decided on a townhome because I am single and getting older, and I’m attracted by the prospect of less upkeep than with a single-family home,” she says.Newman, who moved to Delaware, adds that her previous house in Coral Gables, FL, was a maintenance nightmare—particularly during hurricane season.“The community where I’m buying has an HOA that will take care of lawn care and snow removal,” she says.But it wasn’t just the low maintenance that drew Newman’s attention; it was also the price.

At $620,000 for three bedrooms and 2.5 baths, it was far more affordable than single-family homes in the area.And since it was new construction, she was able to order it to her specifications, requesting wood floors throughout rather than carpeting, a luxury primary bath, an upgraded kitchen and bathroom fixtures, and a security system.She even received $10,000 cash toward her closing costs.Having less personal outdoor space now also doesn’t worry her because “it means less to take care of.”Her only concern is slight: sharing walls with strangers.“I’d like to know if the Rolling Stones or a family with 10 kids will be right next door, but my agent won’t tell me,” she says.

“So if Mick and Keith are next door, I’ll just have to befriend them.”With the salary needed to afford a home more than doubling since the COVID-19 pandemic, the dream of owning a home has become harder for the average American.Many experts say the lack of homes is the main problem, so developers are building residences as fast as they can. Single-family home construction jumped 16% in September.But what if the solution was not more houses, but smaller, more compact houses instead?Enter the townhouse.A townhouse—defined as a home where at least two floors share a wall with ano...