The Census Bureau issued the Annual 2020 Characteristics of New Housing in early June. These characteristics cover new residential buildings that are single family homes either completed or sold, or multifamily units or buildings. The statistics cover a wide range of characteristics, including overall size, exterior wall material, framing, heating fuel and systems, outdoor features, the number of bedrooms and bathrooms, those with/without fireplaces, and many more.
There were 912,000 single-family homes completed in 2020 and the highlights that the Census Bureau noted were:
- 870,000 had air-conditioning.
- 90,000 had two bedrooms or less and 401,000 had four bedrooms or more.
- 29,000 had one and one-half bathrooms or less and 309,000 homes had three or more bathrooms.
- 353,000 had a heat pump. Of these, 344,000 were air-source and 9,000 were ground-source.
- 831,000 were framed in wood and 75,000 were framed using concrete.
- 306,000 had a patio and a porch, while 71,000 had no outdoor features.
- The median size of a completed single-family house was 2,261 square feet.
- The median sales price of new single-family homes sold in 2020 was $336,900, while the average sales price was $391,900.
In addition, the Census Bureau statistics showed that the percentage of homes built with 2 baths rose to 35% and the number with 2-1/2 baths or more decreased to 28%.
Site-built and modular home percentages were unchanged from the previous year, 97% and 1%, respectively. Modular homes are ones constructed from components prefabricated in a factory, erected and finished on the home site.
Fewer homes were built with fireplaces. In 2019 61% of homes completed were built without a fireplace. That increased to 63% for 2020.
Are you curious about where laundry rooms are located? In 2020 for 204,000 homes with a basement, twice as many homes had the laundry room built on the first floor versus a higher floor. Only about 9% built the laundry room in the basement.
In the last 10 years, the percentage of one-story and two-story homes has basically reversed. In 2010 one-story homes were 47% and two-story homes were 50% of the new homes completed. In 2020 one-story homes were 50% of completed homes and two-story homes were 45%.
Following home trends helps us with our ongoing research. e2Value keeps up with changes in costs to provide fast, cost-effective and accurate replacement cost valuations. e2Value’s estimators allow you to quickly and easily value homes of any size or age. You are able to value the smaller older homes and newer larger high value homes and everything in between. Contact us for more information about our estimator tools.