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Katy Mattingly, 52, an executive secretary, bought a house in Ypsilanti, Michigan, three years ago. It is small but offers plenty of space, with three bedrooms. The question for her, and many other single homeowners, is whether they can cash in when they get older.
52岁的执行秘书凯蒂·马丁利三年前在密歇根州伊普西兰蒂买了一套独栋房屋。房子不大，但空间充足，有三间卧室。对于她和其他许多单身房主来说，问题在于当他们变老时，房子是否可以变现。
Ms. Mattingly said she did not think she would ever be able to pay down the mortgage and build wealth. "It's implausible that I'll ever be able to retire," she said.
马丁利说，她认为自己永远无法偿还抵押贷款和积累财富。"退休对我来说并不现实。"她说。
Living solo in homes with three or more bedrooms sounds like a luxury but, experts said, it is a trend driven less by personal choice than by the nation's limited housing supply.
一个人住有三间或更多卧室的房子听起来很奢侈，但专家表示，这种趋势与其说是个人选择，不如说是由国家有限的住房供应促成的。
Because of zoning and construction limitations in many cities and towns, there is a nationwide shortage of homes below 1,400 square feet, which has driven up the cost of the smaller units that do exist, according to research from Freddie Mac.
根据房地美的研究，由于许多城镇的分区和建设限制，全国范围内1400平方英尺以下的住房短缺，从而推高了现有小户型单元房的价格。
Forty years ago, units of less than 1,400 square feet made up about 40 percent of all new home construction; today, just 7 percent of new builds are smaller homes, despite the fact that the number of single-person households has surged.
40年前，面积不到1400平方英尺的单元房占所有新建住宅的40%左右；如今，尽管一人家庭的数量激增，但新建住宅中只有7%是较小的住房。
This has made it more difficult for older Americans to downsize, as a large, aging house can often command less than what a single adult needs to establish a new, smaller home and pay for their living and health care expenses in retirement.
这使得美国老年人更难缩小住房面积，因为一所又大又老的房子的价值往往不足以让一个单身成年人建立更小的新家，并支付退休后的生活和医疗费用。
Even as more U.S. residents live in smaller households, the market has increasingly created larger living spaces.
尽管越来越多的美国居民生活在较小的家庭中，但市场逐渐创造了越来越大的居住空间。
People in this group often face the reality that "it's more expensive to get a smaller condo than the single family you're selling--and that presumes the condo exists, which may not be the case," said Jennifer Molinsky, director of the Housing an Aging Society Program at Harvard University.
这一群体经常面临这样的现实。"一套面积较小的公寓套房比你要出售的独栋住宅更贵----这是假设公寓套房存在的情况下，但实际可能并不存在。"哈佛大学老龄化社会住房项目主任詹妮弗·莫林斯基说。
And when they hold onto family-size houses well into retirement, there are fewer spacious homes placed on the market for young families, who in turn squeeze into smaller units or withstand long commutes in a search for affordable housing.
当他们退休后继续住在够整个家庭居住的大房子时，市场上提供给年轻家庭的宽敞房屋就会减少，继而年轻家庭会挤在较小的单元房中，或者忍受长时间的通勤，以寻找负担得起的住房。
"Both ends of the age distribution are getting squeezed," said Jenny Schuetz, an expert on housing and urban economics at the Brookings Institution. The constraints are especially severe for many older Black Americans, for whom the legacy of redlining and segregation has meant that homeownership has not generated as much wealth.
"年龄分布的两端都受到挤压。"布鲁金斯学会的住房和城市经济专家珍妮·舒茨说。对于许多年长的美国黑人来说，他们面临的限制尤其严重，红线和种族隔离的遗留问题意味着，拥有住房并没有产生相应多的财富。
The percentage of people living alone in large houses is highest in many low-income, historically Black neighborhoods. In those areas, many homes are owned by single, older women.
在许多低收入、长久以来为黑人居住的社区，独自居住在大房子里的人所占比例最高。在这些地区，许多房屋由单身的老年女性拥有。
