Highlights of Annual 2006 Characteristics of New Housing

· The average single-family house completed had 2,519 square feet, 764 more square feet than in 1978.

· Fiber cement, as a principal type of exterior wall material, is reported separately for the first time. It was used to build 12% of new single-family homes sold nationally. It is primarily used in the West region.

· The average single-family home sold was built on a lot of 18,433 square feet. On average, lot sizes were the largest in the Northeast at 44,781 square feet, and were the smallest in the West at 10,062 square feet.

· 13% of all new single-family homes sold were built on lots of at least 22,000 square feet (approximately a half an acre); this is a 2 percentage point increase from 1998.

· 67% of all new single-family homes completed were speculatively built (house and land are sold together as part of the same transaction), up from 63% in 1988.

· 51% of all single-family homes were completed in the South region, up 9% from 1988.

· 40% of new single-family homes sold fell within the price range of $150,000 to $249,999. Most of these homes were sold in the Midwest and the South.

· Nearly 90% of all single-family homes completed had air conditioning.

· Nearly 20% of new single-family homes sold had at least a 3-or-more-car garage; 70% of new single-family homes sold had a 2-car garage.

· In 3 out of 4 regions, over half of the new single-family homes completed had 2 or more stories: 80% in the Northeast, 46% in the Midwest, 53% in the South and 60% in the West.

· At least ¾ of homes completed in the in the Northeast and Midwest had a basement, but in the West, only 20% had a basement and in the South, only 10% of the homes had basements.

· Across the country, over half of all single-family homes sold had at least one fireplace.

· 28% of new single-family homes completed had a deck, down from 32% in 1998.

· 65% of all new single-family homes sold used gas as the primary source of heating fuel and approximately 34% use electricity as the primary source. The Northeast region continues to have the majority of new homes sold that use oil as the primary source of heating fuel.

· 34% of all new single-family homes completed were installed with heat pumps as the primary type of heating system. This matches the 2007 share which was the highest percentage on record for this method of heating.

· Attached single-family homes accounted for 15% of all new single-family homes sold, up from 10% in 1998.

· Vinyl siding is the most common principal exterior material at 32% of new single-family homes sold. In 1998, wood was 15% of the share, but has reduced to 6%. Regionally, the exterior wall material of preference is: Vinyl - Northeast (78%), and Midwest (67%); Brick - South (42%) and Stucco - West (64%).

· 16% of all new single-family homes sold were financed by an FHA loan, up from 4% for the years 2005 through 2007.

· The average sales price of new single-family homes sold was $292,600. In 1998, the average sales price was $181,900. This is a price increase of over 60%.

· The average price per square foot for new single-family homes sold was $88.31, down from $92.74 in 2007. This is the first year-to-year decrease in the average price per square foot since 1999. Regionally, the price per square foot is the most expensive in the Northeast at $117.91 and the least expensive in the South at $79.64.

· 23,000 new single-family homes were modular homes, down 21,000 units (nearly half) from 1998. This represents about 3% of all homes completed; however, this method of construction was most prevalent in the Northeast, with nearly 10% of units built this way.

· Multi-family construction has fluctuated considerably from 636,000 units in 1986 to 153,000 units in 1993. It rebounded to 325,000 units in 2006, but decreased to 301,000 units in 2008.

· 34% of multi-family units completed were built for sale, up from 18% in 1998; this is an increase of over 25%.

· The average square feet in multi-family units completed and built for sale was 1,550. This was 190 more square feet than in 1999. On average, the South has the largest multi-family units at 1,712 square feet.

· 96% of multi-family units completed and built for sale were conventional apartments (all units are stacked or share common utilities).

· 69% of multi-family units were in buildings with 20 or more units, up from 61% in 2007 and only 30% in 1986.

· 75% of multi-family units had less than 1,400 square feet, up from 69% in 2007.

· Multi-family buildings with 1-3 floors fell to 17,000, the second-lowest level since data were first collected in 1973. Multi-family buildings with 4 floors or more remained steady at 2,000, increasing their share of total multi-family buildings to12%, up from 9% in 2007 and only 2% in 1998.