fact is that property taxes are based on sqfoots, right? heating bills,etc.
belive me
many people would live in small houses but developers dont build them, why?
There's more to it. We have a little neighborhood of old 600sqft. or less my sister wanted to buy in but they did not become available. Owners put relatives into apartment sized without the crowding but with a small yard of its' own. Just blocks from me there are many under 1,000 sqft. homes on under 4,000sqft. lots that sell easily, for noticibly less than the not much bigger on still bigger lots. Many of these were built more than 100 years ago. In my neighborhood you get the terribly inflated price by waiting patiently for someone who can pay it to come along.
In my city, probably in most, you cannot subdivide residential lots less than 6,000sqft. This dictates a typical 1,500sqft. build. Cities ruthlessly force the most expensive build possibles to force the highest property tax they can. Blood money. Oh gee, why are so many employed people homeless? I think the property taxes say my house is worth about 8% of the value of my lot. Build 2 hhalf sized houses on my lot split in half and the property tax should be plenty, but that would require politicians admitting they're wrong, wouldn't it? Look at the politician dance Buttiggieg is doing over his time as mayor, doesn't want to admit. . . .