- Homes are becoming larger and more extravagant, Census Bureau data shows.
- More four-bedroom homes are being built, and nearly all are being constructed with air conditioning.
Houses in the US have become much larger and extravagant over the last few decades.
Data on the characteristics of newly constructed homes for 2022, released in June by the Census Bureau, revealed homes continued to get bigger after shrinking from 2015 to 2020.
A higher share of four-bedroom houses were built, most constructed with air conditioning, and more houses are doing away with fireplaces.
Home prices are expected to remain elevated even amid record-high unaffordability levels, Goldman Sachs projected. According to the bank's forecast from October, average home prices are expected to rise 1.8% year-over-year in 2023, followed by another 3.5% increase in 2024.
"Absent any negative shocks to the broader economy that would either boost excess supply of homes on the market or fuel an uptick in unemployment, we continue to expect home prices to rise at a slow pace," the note read.
The housing market has faced falling inventory levels, as well as high mortgage rates amid the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes since March 2022. This has prompted just 1% of US homeowners to sell their house in the first half of 2023.
Redfin CEO Glenn Kelman also said in October that the housing market is currently at "rock bottom" for buyers, though for sellers who are having to drop prices amid high mortgage rates, there may be more pain in the coming months.
Listings site Realtor.com put out a ranking in September of where home prices are falling the most nationwide, topped by the Myrtle Beach-Conway-North Myrtle Beach metropolitan area in South Carolina. Las Vegas-Henderson-Paradise, NV, and Stockton, CA rounded out the top three.
Insider analyzed the Census Bureau's annual characteristics tables to determine how homes are changing even as they continue to become more unaffordable for many Americans.
Larger, fancier homes are being built
Since the 1980s, the percentage of homes being constructed with four bedrooms has on the whole grown, while the percentage of two-bedroom homes have fallen. In 2022, nearly half of all homes constructed had four bedrooms, compared to two-bedroom homes at 9%.
This trend of larger homes is also shown through the number of bathrooms in new houses, with over a third having three or more baths, slightly more than the percentage of homes with two baths.
Houses have remained relatively the same height, with a slightly higher percentage of one-story homes and slightly fewer percentage of two-story homes compared to 10 years ago.
The growing percentage of houses with more bedrooms and bathrooms is seen in part by the median area in square feet of new builds. Though down overall since 2015, median area has grown since 2020. The median are now comes in at around 2,300 square feet for houses built in 2022.
Over the last few years, it's become more standard for homes to have garages that can fit two cars at around 66% of new builds. Since 2015, the percentage of homes with garages capable of fitting three or more cars has declined from 24% to 19% for new homes.
Nearly all new homes have air conditioning at 97%, a huge increase from 1975 when just 46% of new houses had air conditioning.
The percentage of new homes with heat pumps as the dominant heating system has nearly doubled from the late 1970s to today, as 43% of new homes now use heat pumps. Forced-air furnaces are still the majority at 55%.
Gas as a dominant heating fuel has fluctuated alongside electricity since the 1970s. The Census notes 51% of new homes in 2022 use gas, compared to 48% using electricity. Back in 1971, these values were 60% and 31% respectively.
Still, as many households gear up for the winter, fireplaces are likely not in consideration for many homeowners, as 65% of new homes in 2022 were built without fireplaces. The 1980s were a particularly good time for fireplaces, during which time nearly 60% of new homes were built with them.
The main exterior wall material of new homes has changed drastically over the last five decades. While wood used to be the primary material for a third of homes in 1973, it's now just 4% in 2022. Brick fell from 35% in 1973 to 19% in 2022, while vinyl siding and fiber cement have become more popular.
Basements have also become much less popular over the last five decades— the percentage of new homes with a full or partial basement in 1974 was 45%, compared to just 21% in 2022. Slab and other types of foundations have become the sweeping majority for new homes.