New York City — The Wall Street Journal reports that some homebuilders are offering luxury homebuyers creative design incentives, such as less-conventional floor plans and more specialty rooms, to appeal to prospective customers. These incentives range from pantries, breakfast nooks, and upgraded cabinets and appliances, to slanted hallways, twisted staircases, finished basements, custom garages, sunrooms and expanded master suites, and give the homeowner the illusion of more space without increasing the actual square footage. Other luxury models are being designed to cope with shrinking lot sizes (more than a 7% decrease over the past decade according to U.S. government statistics), and many have been tailored to fit long, narrow lots, while still providing the living space desired by their large-living clientele.

Read more.