U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Skip Header


These Old Houses: 2001

Written by:
Report Number H121/04−1

Introduction

Although the United States is more than 200 years old, its housing inventory is young. In 2001, just 8.3 percent of all American housing was built before 1920. This report examines housing units built 82 years or more ago (which are referred to as old units), and compares their characteristics with those of units built after 1989 (which are referred to as new units). The data are from the 2001 American Housing Survey (AHS), National Sample.

Old housing is important for several reasons. Despite its small proportion of the total housing stock, old homes account for about 10 million housing units and were the primary residence of 8.6 million households. Because of their age, these units may present particular problems in housing quality and safety, but they may also have unique characteristics (aside from
any historical significance) that could make them desirable homes. Finally, given that the median price of new single−family homes sold in 2001 was $175,200, these old houses may provide more affordable opportunities for homeownership.

This report is organized in three sections. The first introduces the basic statistics on the age of the nation’s housing stock. The second section compares the characteristics of old units with those of recently constructed homes, helps identify what is unique about old housing, and shows some information about the occupants of both old and new units. The third section deals with losses of old units from the housing inventory, and examines the reasons for and rates of losses of residences built before 1920.

Page Last Revised - October 8, 2021
Is this page helpful?
Thumbs Up Image Yes Thumbs Down Image No
NO THANKS
255 characters maximum 255 characters maximum reached
Thank you for your feedback.
Comments or suggestions?

Top

Back to Header