NAHB Presents "Housing Facts, Figures & Trends 2004" - 11/22/2004 - Mortgage Loan Refinance Debt Equity

February 5, 2004 - The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) proudly presents Housing Facts, Figures and Trends 2004, the latest edition of its popular media backgrounder providing essential historical information on trends in U.S. home and apartment building.

This 50-page guide offers valuable insight on the nation’s housing industry and the essential strength that housing has supplied to the U.S. economy in recent years. Starting in 1980, the publication details annual home prices, mortgage interest rates, and characteristics of new homes and apartments over the last 13 years. It also lists the top 50 metro markets for housing permits, popular materials used in new homes and apartments, and home buyer preferences, to name just a few.

Among other trends, Housing Facts, Figures and Trends 2004 charts the impressive gains in new-home sales throughout the last decade, culminating in a record high of over one million units in 2003. Also featured in the new publication is a section listing the nation’s most affordable housing markets, a section on "How Housing Affects the Economy," and another section dedicated to housing affordability issues. Homeownership rates and historical U.S. demographic data are also provided.

Following are just a few of the highlights from Housing Facts, Figures & Trends 2004, which can be downloaded free of charge from the Newsroom/Reports section on www.nahb.org. (Direct link provided below).

• The top metro market for single-family permits in the first nine months of 2003 was Atlanta, with 40,580 permits issued. Other metros in the top five include Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz.; Riverside-San Bernardino, Calif.; Houston, Texas; and Washington, D.C., in that order.. - page 5
  
• The top metro market for multifamily permits in the first nine months of 2003 was New York, with just over 15,000. Other metros in the top five include Houston, Chicago, Atlanta and Las Vegas, in that order. - page 24
  
• The median and average prices of new and existing homes more than doubled in the last two decades of the 20th Century. - page 3
  
• An average of 19 windows, 19 tons of cement and 13,837 board feet of framing lumber go into a typical newly built 2,272 square-foot home. - pages 7-9
  
• A walk-in pantry is the most favored special feature in new-home kitchens, with 78 percent of respondents in a recent NAHB survey rating it as desirable or essential. The next most important kitchen features are island work areas (71 percent) and light wood cabinets (59 percent). - page 12
  
• Multifamily home building in 2002, which totaled 347,000 units, generated 357,000 jobs (in worker years of employment), $13.3 billion in wages and $7.1 billion in federal, state and local taxes, according to NAHB estimates. - page 15
  
• In the first 12 months after purchasing a newly built home, owners spend an average of $8,905 to furnish, decorate and improve their investment. Buyers of existing homes spend $3,766 more than non-moving home owners during the 12 months after purchasing their home, and renters also spend significant amounts on furnishing their new homes and apartments. - page 25