Happy American Housing Month

Sorry for the belated greetings but I am still in the month of June! June has been declared American Housing Month by the trade association American Bankers Association(ABA). Let’s enjoy the celebration with some interesting facts about residential living. I have discovered that the U.S. Census Bureau not only performs a census every ten years but creates and carries out over 130 surveys per year. One such survey is the 2015 American Housing Survey. They surveyed approximately 133 million residential units and came up with some of the following facts:

  1. The average residential unit size is 1,500 square feet.
  2. The median space per occupant is 700 square feet.
  3. The following chart shows in thousands how many rooms a residential structure has (these numbers are approximate and do not include non-habitable spaces such as bathrooms and closets):
1 room 2,710,874 +/-22,380 2.0% +/-0.1
2 rooms 3,352,655 +/-16,678 2.5% +/-0.1
3 rooms 12,145,729 +/-29,822 9.1% +/-0.1
4 rooms 22,082,400 +/-68,846 16.6% +/-0.1
5 rooms 27,114,074 +/-71,129 20.3% +/-0.1
6 rooms 23,988,832 +/-28,065 18.0% +/-0.1
7 rooms 16,297,702 +/-36,208 12.2% +/-0.1
8 rooms 11,309,920 +/-49,890 8.5% +/-0.1
9 rooms or more 14,349,654 +/-96,621 10.8%

 

  1. The survey breaks it down a little further if you are interested in how many bathrooms and bedrooms people have (also in thousands)…
Bedrooms                                                            
None 1,179
1 15,674
2 35,774
3 53,672
4 or more 28,490
Bathrooms                                                            
At least 1 complete bathroom 134,693
1 47,496
1.5 15,926
2 40,104
2.5 16,911
3 11,755
More than 3 2,501
No complete bathroom 97
Sink and toilet present 37
Tub and toilet present 19
Sink only present 5
Tub only present 5
Toilet only present 22
No sink, bathtub, shower, or toilet present 9

 

  1. Did you notice that 1,179,000 units had no bedrooms? That reminds me of when I walked into a client’s house and two kids were sleeping on the living room floor. That was addressed in our renovation solution and I am happy to report these kids now have a room!
  2. You can calculate from the tables that in 2006 of all new single family homes constructed, 1.6% had 3 or more bathrooms as compared to 2016 which had a whopping 5%. That’s a 312% increase in toilets! No water conservation going on there. The bathroom seems to be becoming the most important room in the house. Similarly, in that same time period, 4 bedrooms or more in houses increased by 260%. I wonder how big these houses are going to be in another ten years.
  3. Curious about the Laundry Room trend in the Northeast? In that same ten year period in new home construction, the laundry rooms have been elevated in status. 156% more laundry rooms are moving up to the second floor! Way to go laundry rooms! I find that almost all of my renovation projects homeowners are very anxious to get that laundry room out of the basement and up to the second floor where all that dirty stuff is being accumulated.

The next time they put out a survey they should check out the use of the master bath spa tub versus the soaking tub. I am a firm believer that the soaking tub is going to win!

If any of these facts fascinate you be sure to go to the U.S. Census Bureau and see what other endless goodies they have.

Once again Happy American Housing Month, be sure to send your favorite house something nice.