8 foot ceilings in new construction are an absolute deal breaker.
The ONLY way I could argue otherwise is low-income based housing as a method of keeping costs down. As luxuries go, ceiling height is relatively affordable. The caveat being adding height costs less than adding square footage. Square footage requires more foundation and roofing, something ceiling height does not. Ceiling height DOES add more material and often taller doors and windows, but not always.
On the flip side, ceiling heights that are too high are equally problematic. Noise levels increase and feelings of "coziness" decrease.
Dr. Sally Augustin wrote in Psychology Today, Looking Up Ceilings influence us psychologically, Published on July 23, 2010, Meyers-Levy and co-author Rui (Juliet) Zhu, assistant professor of marketing at the Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia and a Carlson doctoral alum, found that, depending on the situation, ceiling height will benefit or impair consumer responses. The paper “The Influence of Ceiling Height: The Effect of Priming on the Type of Processing People Use,” will be published in the August issue of the Journal of Consumer Research.
“When a person is in a space with a 10-foot ceiling, they will tend to think more freely, more abstractly,” said Meyers-Levy. “They might process more abstract connections between objects in a room, whereas a person in a room with an 8-foot ceiling will be more likely to focus on specifics.”
So, having said all of this, I suppose the real answer is "it depends", but if you want to sell quickly, I still assert low ceilings in new construction is a deal breaker for a majority of buyers. And isn't selling and making some money the reason we build new construction? ROI is based on conversion rates.
