Homes Do Not Sell for Price Per Square Foot - Here is Why
The Myth Continues
The Price-Per-Square-Foot Myth
Why agents, sellers, and buyers keep pretending homes sell like flooring.
So I’ve got about five square feet of upper body — chest, back, shoulders, arms. And recently, while I was shopping for shirts, I thought I’d try something new.
I decided that shirts should cost $10 per square foot of body surface covered. That’s the fair market value, right?
So every shirt I looked at — didn’t matter if it was linen, cotton, vintage, or made by some guy sewing magic in Italy — I mentally priced it by square foot.
Then I saw this great shirt at The Mercantile in Seaside. Perfect linen, soft as a summer breeze, and, dare I say, I looked pretty damn good in it at 62. Price tag said $110.
Naturally, I offered $50.
The manager looked at me like I’d lost it.
I explained: “Well, I’ve calculated shirts to be worth about $10 per square foot of body surface coverage.”
They didn’t negotiate.
So I paid $110 — plus sales tax — and wore the shirt out feeling great.
Now, that’s obviously a stupid way to price shirts.
But it’s exactly how agents, sellers, and buyers try to price homes.
The Big Lie of “Price Per Square Foot”
On 30A, I see it every day — agents proudly calculating “average price per square foot” as if it tells you anything useful about the value of a home.
Here’s the truth: for the average home sold on 30A, square footage only accounts for about 54% of the selling price.
That means 46% of what someone is actually paying for has nothing to do with size.
That 46% includes things you can measure — bedrooms, age, location, view, pool — and things you can’t. Like how it feels.
Because luxury homes aren’t bought by the foot.
They’re bought by the heartbeat.
They’re bought by people who walk through the front door and say, “This is it.”
They’re bought by families who stand on the balcony and picture Christmas morning.
They’re bought by couples who feel like themselves — or their future selves — in that space.
That emotional connection? That’s the $110 shirt.
The Takeaway
Agents who sell by square foot are selling like flooring reps.
Agents who understand emotion, experience, and context — they sell homes.
So the next time someone hands you a “comp set” built on price per square foot, ask them this:
“What’s your adjustment for how it feels to actually live there?”
Because homes on 30A don’t sell for $10 per square foot any more than my linen shirt did.
They sell for the moments you’ll live inside them.