Characteristics of New Privately Owned One-Family Houses Completed statistics

[Percent distribution, except as indicated (793 represents 793,000). Data beginning 1980 show percent distribution of characteristics for all houses completed (includes new houses completed, houses built for sale completed, contractor-built and owner-built houses completed, and houses completed for rent). Data for 1970 cover contractor-built, owner-built, and houses for rent for year construction started and houses sold for year of sale. Percents exclude houses for which characteristics specified were not reported]


Characteristic	1970	1980	1985	1986	1987	1988	1989	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999

Total houses (1,000)	793	957	1,072	1,120	1,123	1,085	1,026	966	838	964	1,039	1,160	1,066	1,129	1,116	1,160	1,307

Financing ¹	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Mortgage	84	82	81	83	80	82	83	82	81	86	87	89	88	87	88	91	91
FHA-insured	30	16	15	20	15	13	14	14	13	10	9	8	8	9	8	8	9
VA-guaranteed	7	8	7	8	6	4	5	4	5	5	6	5	5	5	4	4	3
Conventional	47	55	57	54	59	63	62	62	61	70	72	74	74	74	77	78	79
Rural Housing Service ²	(³)	3	3	2	2	1	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Cash or equivalent	16	18	19	16	18	18	18	18	19	14	13	11	12	11	10	9	9

Floor area	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Under 1,200 sq ft	36	21	20	17	14	12	13	11	12	10	9	9	10	9	8	7	7
1,200 to 1,599 sq ft	28	29	30	30	27	25	23	22	22	22	21	21	22	21	21	20	19
1,600 to 1,999 sq ft	16	22	21	21	22	22	22	22	21	23	23	24	23	23	22	22	22
2,000 to 2,399 sq ft	21	13	12	14	16	16	16	17	17	17	18	18	17	18	18	18	18
2,400 sq. ft and over	(⁴)	15	17	18	21	25	26	29	28	29	29	28	28	30	31	32	34
Average (sq. ft.)	1,500	1,740	1,785	1,825	1,905	1,995	2,035	2,080	2,075	2,095	2,095	2,100	2,095	2,120	2,150	2,190	2,225
Median (sq. ft.)	1,385	1,595	1,605	1,660	1,755	1,810	1,850	1,905	1,890	1,920	1,945	1,940	1,920	1,950	1,975	2,000	2,030

Number of stories	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
1	74	60	52	51	49	46	46	46	48	48	48	49	49	49	49	48	48
2 or more	17	31	42	44	46	49	49	49	47	47	48	47	48	47	49	50	51
Split level	10	8	6	5	5	4	4	4	5	5	4	3	3	3	3	2	1
Foundation	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Full or partial basement	37	36	35	37	39	39	37	38	40	42	40	39	39	37	37	37	37
Slab	36	45	48	45	43	41	43	40	38	38	40	41	42	44	45	45	47
Crawl space	27	19	18	18	18	19	19	21	22	20	20	20	19	19	19	18	17

Bedrooms	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
2 or less	13	17	25	21	19	17	15	15	14	12	12	12	13	13	13	12	12
3	63	63	57	59	58	57	57	57	59	59	58	58	57	56	56	55	54
4 or more	24	20	18	20	23	26	28	29	28	29	30	30	30	31	31	33	34
Bathrooms	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
1 or less	(NA)	(NA)	13	10	10	8	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)	(NA)
1 1/2 or less	52	27	11	9	7	7	14	13	14	13	12	11	11	9	9	8	7
2	32	48	48	47	45	44	42	42	43	40	40	40	41	41	41	41	38
2 1/2 or more	16	25	29	33	38	42	44	45	44	47	48	49	48	49	50	52	55
Heating fuel	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Gas	62	41	49	47	52	54	58	59	60	65	66	67	67	69	69	70	70
Electricity	28	50	44	44	40	37	34	33	32	29	29	29	28	26	26	26	27
Oil	8	3	3	5	5	6	5	5	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Other	1	5	4	4	3	3	3	3	4	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Heating system	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Warm air furnace	71	57	54	54	57	60	63	65	65	66	67	67	67	70	70	72	72
Electric heat pump	(NA)	24	30	29	27	26	24	23	23	24	24	24	25	23	23	21	22
Other	29	19	15	17	16	15	13	12	13	11	10	9	9	7	7	7	6
Central air-conditioning	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
With	34	63	70	69	71	75	77	76	75	77	78	79	80	81	82	83	84
Without	66	37	30	31	29	25	23	24	25	23	22	21	20	19	18	17	16
Fireplaces	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
No fireplace	65	43	41	38	38	35	35	34	37	37	37	36	37	38	39	39	38
1 or more	35	56	59	62	62	65	65	66	63	64	63	64	63	62	61	61	62
Parking facilities	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100
Garage	58	69	70	74	79	78	80	82	81	83	84	86	84	86	86	86	87
Carport	17	7	5	4	3	3	3	2	3	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1
No garage or carport	25	24	25	21	18	18	17	16	17	15	14	13	14	13	13	12	12

NA Not available.
1 Excludes homes not yet sold.
2 Prior to 1996, Farmers Home Administration.
3 Included with "Conventional" financing.
4 Included with floor area of 2,000 to 2,399 square feet.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, Current Construction Reports, series C25, New One-Family Houses Sold, monthly, and Characteristics of New Housing, annual.

http://www.census.gov/const/www/index.html * Definitions

Bathroom. For the purposes of this survey, a full bath-room is one that has a wash basin, a toilet, and either a bathtub or shower, or a combination of bathtub and shower. A half bathroom is one that has either a toilet, bathtub, or shower, but not all the facilities to be classified as a full bathroom. If the respondent reported a full bathroom and two half bathrooms, the house is classified as a two-bathroom house.

Bedroom. A bedroom is a finished room specifically designed to be used for sleeping. A den, a space in the attic, or a basement which could be converted to a bed-room are not counted as bedrooms.

Contractor-built houses. This category includes all houses built for owner occupancy on owners land with construc-tion under the supervision of a single general contractor.

Contractor price. The contract price used in this survey for contractor-built houses is the price on the original contract awarded to the general contractor. The contract price does not reflect any subsequent changes in the price resulting from change orders or from any other factors affecting the price of the house. It does not include the cost of any contracts awarded to a different contractor for work on the grounds around the house, nor does it include any proposed expenditures on the house after construction is completed by the general contractor. Finally, because the house is being built for the owners occupancy on his own land, the contract price does not include the cost of the land.

The median contract price is equal to the middle point of all contract prices reported. The point is chosen so that half the contract prices of houses started are below the median and half are above the median. The average, or arithmetic mean, contract price is obtained by dividing the sum of all contract prices by the number of houses reporting contract prices.

Financing, type of. The type of financing tabulated in this survey is the type reported at the time the original sales agreement was signed or deposit accepted. However, changes in the type of financing do occur between the original contract signing and final settlement. These changes are not reflected in the tables.

The FHA and VA type-of-financing data presented tend to differ from those published directly by those agencies. For the actual number of FHA-insured and VA-guaranteed loans made for new houses at the time of final settlement, refer to the publications of the respective agencies. The data differ because of the difference in time periods between the signing of the original sales contract, the start of construction, and the insurance or guarantee of the mortgage, as well as the sampling variability in this survey.

Early in 1995 the Farmers Home Administration was reorganized. As part of this reorganization the Rural Hous-ing Service now handles the mortgage functions formerly done by the Farmers Home Administration.

Fireplace (indoor). An indoor fireplace is defined as an open recess in a chimney in which a fire may be built. Included are those made of masonry, tile, metal, or other permanently installed materials that are a fixed and integral part of the building.

Floor area. For this survey, floor area is defined as all completely finished floor space, including space in base-ments and attics with finished walls, floors, and ceilings. In concept, measurement is based on exterior dimen-sions. Measurements are taken to the outside of exterior walls for detached houses. Half stories are measured to the outside of enclosing partitions. Row houses are mea-sured from the centerline of party walls to the outside surface of the exterior walls. For purposes of this survey, where the floor area for a new house was reported based on interior dimensions, the figure was converted to exterior dimensions by multiplying by a standard conversion factor of 1.08. A standard conversion factor of 1.04 was used to convert figures to exterior dimensions where it was not known whether the reported area was based on exterior or interior dimensions.

Heat pump. Heat pump refers to a heating/cooling system which utilizes indoor and outdoor coils, a compressor, and refrigerant to pump hot air in during the winter and out during the summer. Only heat pumps that are centrally installed with ducts to the rooms are included in this category.

Housing unit. A housing unit is defined as a single room or group of rooms intended as separate living quarters by a family, by a group of unrelated persons living together, or by a person living alone. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants do not live and eat with any other persons in the structure and which have direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall which is used or intended to be used by the occupants of another unit or the general public.

In addition to single-family detached houses, the definition of single-family houses also includes those townhouses attached together in groups of two or more which are partitioned from each other by a ground-to-roof wall. Also, these units must not share heating/air-conditioning systems or interstructural public utilities, such as water supply, power supply, or sewage disposal lines. New houses sold. The category, houses sold, includes all houses for which a sales contract has been signed or a deposit accepted. This includes houses for which a sales contract is signed or deposit accepted before construction is actually started; for instance, houses sold from a model or from plans before any work is started on the footings or foundations. It also includes houses sold while under construction or after completion; that is, houses built on speculation. Owner-built houses. This category includes houses built for owner occupancy, on owners land, under the supervi-sion of the owner acting as his own general contractor: (1) in most cases built partly by owner and partly with paid help; (2) sometimes built entirely with the employment of subcontractors; and (3) in a smaller number of cases, on a do-it-yourself basis.

Sale. The sale of the new house occurs with the signing of a sales contract or the acceptance of a deposit. This survey does not follow through to the final stage of the sales transaction. Land must be included in the transaction.

Sales price. The sales price used in this survey is the price agreed upon between purchaser and seller (and reported by the latter) at the time the first sales contract is signed or deposit is made for the house. The sales price does not reflect any subsequent price changes resulting from change orders or from any other factors affecting the price of the house. Furthermore, the sales price does not include the cost of any extras or options paid for in cash by the purchaser or otherwise not included in the original sales price reported by the seller.

Story. That portion of a building between the floor and the ceiling or roof, or the next floor above in the case of a multistory house. A basement is not counted as a story even if it is finished as a den or recreation room. Houses referred to as bi-levels or split foyers are classified as two-story houses.

Half story. A story finished as living accommodations located wholly or partly within the roof frame is consid-ered a half story; it is tabulated in this survey as a whole story; for example, one and one-half stories is counted as two.

Split level. Identifies a structure having floors on more than one level when the difference in some floor levels is less than one story. This definition is interpreted on the basis of local custom and may vary from area to area.

*

http://www.allcountries.org/uscensus/1197_characteristics_of_new_privately_owned_one.html

These tables are based on figures supplied by the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce and are subject to revision by the Census Bureau.

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