ANSI Square Footage Standards: What Agents and Appraisers Should Know
June 15, 2022
By Brian Pate, Realtor
As of April 1, 2022, Fannie Mae began requiring the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards for appraisals. This applies only to single family housing and not apartments, condominiums or commercial property.
Here in North Carolina, where I live, it is very similar but there are some variations. Some states have completely different systems that will cause discrepancies. As a result, agents across the country, will need to brush up on the requirements and make sure the vendors hired to do property measurements are qualified to do so and understand the new guidelines.
How is the gross living area measured and calculated?
Here are some highlights:
Basically, the measurements for square footage of a single family home or townhouse should be taken to include the exterior walls and also includes the area on each floor above grade including stairwells but not including open areas (think 2 story foyers: they are only included for the ground floor).
Any living space below grade will be considered basement space, even if it is only a few square feet.
Ceilings must be a minimum of 7 feet high and in second floor areas where the ceiling is sloped, the living area measurement would start when the slope reaches 5 feet high as long as at least 50% of the ceiling is 7 feet or above.
This will affect some designs like Cape Cod or Williamsburgh floor plans that have dormers and sloped ceilings on the second floor.
Millions of appraisals are submitted to Fannie Mae every year and the organization has always wanted a “national standard” for appraisals and square footage. Arriving at a national standard will be a challenge, but this is an attempted first step. The goal is to improve consistency and reliability of appraisal reports when it comes to determining what areas of a home are “living area.”
Imagine that an agent has listed a home for sale that has two stories, with one bedroom and bath on the first floor. However, on the second floor, there are two bedrooms and a bath but only a small portion of the ceiling is 7 feet or above. Square footage could be cut significantly, and this is where real estate licensees will have to adapt and make sure they are getting proper measurements up front.
Click here to download a PDF copy of the Standardized Property Measuring Guidelines from Fannie Mae.