Last week, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that presidential hopeful Mitt Romney had filed a permit application to bulldoze his $12 million, 3,009 square-foot “oceanfront manse” in La Jolla, California and replace it with a two-story 11,062 square-foot structure.
Romney’s campaign initially confirmed the report, saying the existing home is “inadequate for [the Romneys'] needs.” Today, however, Romney himself told the New Hampshire Union Leader’s Joe McQuaid that he was merely doubling the “living space” of the home and the rest of the additional square-footage to be added was “nonliving space, including a basement and garage.”
A rough calculation indicates that the new “nonliving space” in Romney’s beach house will be approximately 5,000 square-feet — or more than twice the size of the average American home, which the U.S. Census Bureau pegged at 2,392 square-feet in 2010. Census figures also show the size of the average American home has actually been decreasing in recent years.
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