This reporter did a good job of gleaning some nuggets from the the new U.S. Bureau of Census report on housing.

From 1975 to 2005, the average size of new single-family homes grew by 48 percent, according to the Census Bureau’s 2005 survey of new housing, released this summer. That happened even as the typical household has gotten smaller, falling from 2.94 people in 1975 to 2.6 people in 2004, the latest figure available. At the same time, the lots that the houses stand on have shrunk by about 13 percent.