Gary Jonas, former president of the Building Industry Association of Philadelphia, said that stat is largely what\u2019s driving the dip in average apartment size. But he doesn\u2019t view the change as an outright negative.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe a generation ago, two people would get an apartment as roommates and rent together, and then you would get a two-bedroom apartment. Now what you\u2019re seeing is people wanting to live alone and that forces them, because of what they can afford, into a studio,\u201d said Jonas, managing member of the HOW Group, a real estate company that serves Greater Philadelphia.\n<\/p>\n
They\u2019re also willing to live in a smaller space if the building offers certain amenities.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cNow every building that gets built in the city has a gym, a rooftop deck and co-working space. So people are trading some of the apartment space for space outside the apartment and experience. So it\u2019s a nuanced scheme. There\u2019s a lot of things going on here,\u201d Jonas said.\n <\/p>\n
At the same time, studios are valuable for developers because the price per square foot is higher than it would be for a larger place.\n<\/p>\n