Consumers still want bigger houses. Plus, design is more important than price.

Those were two of the somewhat surprising results of a consumer survey shared by the keynote speaker during the 2011 Building and Infrastructure Conference last week.

John Burns, the keynote speaker and president and CEO of John Burns Real Estate Consulting, said 44% of consumers said they would want to buy a bigger house in the future, compared with only 22% who said they want a smaller house.