Home Trends
If you’re looking to buy, sell, or build a home as you enter retirement, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) has some sobering information regarding housing market trends for American homes.
• From a peak of 2,268 square feet in 2006,
the median size of new single-family homes started (home-building commenced) dropped consistently down to an even 2,100 square feet in 2009. This can in part be at- tributed to trends in factors like the desire to keep energy costs down, amounts of eq- uity in existing homes avail- able to roll into a new one, tightening credit standards, less emphasis on the pure investment motive for buy- ing a home, and an increased share of homes sold to first- time buyers. Not all of these trends are likely to reverse themselves immediately after a recession. • The decline in the median size of new homes managed to occur even as the share of homes that were contractor-built — typically the category with the largest homes on average — was increasing. Meanwhile, the median sales price of single-family homes started also has declined — from $256,000 in 2006 to $211,000 in 2009. • Fewer high-end homes have been built in recent years. For example, the share of for-sale homes priced above $300,000 was over 35 percent in 2006 and 2007, before dropping to under 30 percent in 2008, and under 25 percent in 2009. • Three-car garages, fireplaces, patios, and decks each have declined. These amenities could be viewed as luxuries, and their declining shares therefore are consistent with the reduced share of homes being built at the top end of the market. On the other hand, the share of new single- family homes with porches has risen consistently since 2005.
Overall, age-restricted homes accounted for 2% of total new homes in the market in 2009.
4.2 2.2 1.1
<$100 0.0
$100-149 1.1 0.0 $150-199 $200-249 $250-499 $500-999 $1,000
U.S. Home Sales by Year and Type New
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
1,283,000 1,052,000 776,000 485,000 374,000
Existing
7,076,000 6,478,000 5,184,000 5,173,000 5,156,000
Single Family 6,180,000 5,677,000 4,939,000 4,350,000 4,566,000
Share of New Homes in Age-Restricted Communities by Sales Price (in thousands of $)
6.3
• Information from the Economics
Department, National Association of Home Builders. For more information, read “Characteristics of Single-Family Homes Started in 2009,” available at
www.nahb.org under Special Studies. This was the most recent report available at the time of publication.
Condominium 896,000 801,000 713,000 563,000 590,000
RETIREMENT COMMUNITY SOURCE MARCH 2011 MILITARY OFFICER G
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132