I don't necessarily disagree but… My family's home is 2200 square feet total, not counting the small two-car garage. There's six of us living here. Sure, we have some extra spaces that we don't "need" like a second room with couches. But if you added up the amount of space we use for storage, not including the bedroom closets, we're easily using 700 square feet to store things like sports gear, seasonal things, games, etc. (That's not counting the stuff "required" to live on 1/3 acre, which is irellevant when comparing to an apartment.)
I think we could feasibly live in 1500 with the only downside being having to share spaces with people doing other things more often.
Sure, a "young family" with 2-3 kids could live in that 1100 square foot space. But I posit they'd need 500 more somewhere in which to store their junk.
