It's nice to have that space for your house, but on the other hand your kids can't go to school by themselves, and neither can you jump on your bike for some shopping and be back in ten minutes.
Bigger houses and more (sometimes mandatory) parking also means everything is further apart and making cars more needed even when going between stores.
Right, it's not that we don't want bigger houses, apartments or cars, we just can't justify it in terms of cost.
I'd love to get my wife a bigger car, so she wouldn't be scared of driving in the snow, but just buying it would be three times the price (or more) compared to the small car she's currently driving.