He was right of course.
Bedrooms, studies, bathrooms as small and cramped as feasible
Without kids, though, it would be plenty (tbf I have a big shed outside for projects and bikes which helps a lot)
Unless you have a specific need for more space (maybe a workshop, etc) I would avoid the bigger sized houses.
For apartments, the average size is 941 sqft, which is down about 5% over the last 10 years.
That's actually large by many standards across the world but also for older urban dwellings in US cities. I suspect those 2600+ ft^2 numbers are average sizes for new construction?
For whatever reason, new construction of single family homes consists almost entirely of structural wood framing and plywood, then tyvek and non-structural brick facade. That kind of construction makes building larger volumes feasible. I don't know when the change-over in the USA from structural brick to wood occured, but I suspect it was in the 50-60's. In old urban neighborhoods in the North East, 2500+ ft^2 is definitely considered "big".
Unfortunately, I doubt that modern wood frame homes will last 100+ years without serious interventions. Brick also deteriorates, but more slowly and it's possible to work on it piecemeal.
That blackish blob in Europe is the Netherlands.
https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/news/nr/land-cover-atlas-uk-1.74...
It's a political choice, a matter of spatial planning, to live this densly.
I actually just landed at Schiphol on a clear day and you can see the country just has so much sparsely populated areas peaking out the window on approach
Also Amsterdam is the peak of tiny spaces here. Single bedroom 25 m2, with shared toilet/kitchen for sale can cost you €100.000,- easily.