Nation's love affair with McMansions shows signs of waning

The Wall Street Journal reports:

Mickey and Jane Finn put their five-bedroom, 6,200-square-foot home in Leesburg, Va., on the market in April, but already they've cut the price to $899,900 from $1.1 million. Now, they've decided to put it up for auction.

What's the hurry? Down the street in their leafy subdivision, two similar-sized houses are also on the market, and around the corner, five more have for-sale signs. The Finns, who paid $692,000 for the new house in 2002, recently retired and, with their two children grown, they're eager to move to a place half the size. ``We don't need this big a house anymore _ if we ever did,'' says Mr. Finn, age 63.

The golden age of McMansions may be coming to an end. These oversized homes _ characterized by sprawling layouts on small lots, and built in cookie-cutter style by big developers _ fueled much of the housing boom. But thanks to rising energy and mortgage costs, shrinking families and a growing number of retirement-age baby boomers set on downsizing, there are signs of an emerging glut.

With the trend of smaller families,you've got to wonder who's going to buy all these bigger houses.The problem will get more pronounced at the baby boomers start retiring in 2008.