Steps That Help Seniors Regain Confidence

Highlighting Census Bureau Data on Housing and Construction During American Housing Month, National Homeownership Month

AMERICAN HOUSING MONTH AND NATIONAL HOMEOWNERSHIP MONTH celebrate the value of homeownership to families and communities and the ways banks and other public and private institutions can help people reach their housing goals.

And the U.S. Census Bureau provides the data needed to build a complete picture of housing activity in the United States.

For example, the latest Census Bureau numbers show that prices of new homes are rising (average sale price has topped $500,000), housing vacancies are at or near historic lows and most new single-family homes completed had at least 3 bedrooms (877,000 of the total 970,000 new single-family homes completed).

The average sales price was $570,300 in April 2022, an increase from $434,800 (31.2%) in April 2021.

What New Homes Look Like

The Census Bureau’s Characteristics of New Housing provides national and regional annual data on the characteristics of new privately-owned residential structures.

It includes square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, type of wall material, sales prices, and even the type of fuel used to heat the home.

Of the 970,000 single-family homes completed in 2021: • 927,000 had air-conditioning. • 93,000 had two bedrooms or less and 444,000 had four bedrooms or more. • 27,000 had one and one-half bathrooms or less and 320,000 homes had three or more bathrooms. • 369,000 had a heat pump. Of these, 361,000 were air-source and 8,000 were ground-source. • 895,000 were framed in wood and 71,000 were framed using concrete. • 330,000 had a patio and a porch, while 87,000 had no outdoor features.

Full House

The first quarter 2022 homeownership rate was highest in the Midwest (70.0%), followed by the South (67.4%), Northeast (61.8%) and West (60.2%).

The homeownership rate in the Northeast was lower than the first quarter 2021 rate, while rates in all other regions were not statistically different from the first quarter 2021 rates.

The rental vacancy rate in the South (7.1%) was higher than the rate in the Midwest (5.9%), and both were higher than the rates in the Northeast (4.9%) and West (4.5%).

However, the rental vacancy rate in the Northeast was not statistically different from the West. The rates in the Northeast and Midwest were lower than their first quarter 2021 rates. The rates in the South and West were not statistically different from the first quarter 2021 rates.

Housing Cost and Condition

The American Housing Survey provides up-to-date information about housing conditions and cost of housing in the United States and major metropolitan areas. The most recent data is for 2019 and includes:

Physical condition of homes and neighborhoods. Of the 124 million occupied households in the United States: • 14.8 million saw signs of mice/rats inside the home in the last 12 months. • 11.7 million reported water leakage from outside the home. • 9.4 million reported water leakage from inside the home.

Costs of financing and maintaining homes. Owners spent a median of $4,400 on improvements to their homes such as (median expenditures for selected projects): • HVAC: $4,000. • Kitchen remodels: $6,000. • Flooring/paneling/ceiling tiles: $2,000.

Characteristics of people who live in the homes, including those who need accessible homes the most: • 48 million households (39%) have at least one person age 65 and over, one person(s) with a disability, or both. • About 1 in 8 households have a household member who uses a mobility device for a long-term condition.

The AHS Table Creator allows for data access to selected state and metro areas.

New Home Sales

The New Residential Sales (NRS) economic indicator includes estimates of new homes sold, median and average sales prices, median months for sale since completion, months’ supply, and inventories of homes built for sale.

Sales of new single-family houses in April 2022 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 591,000.

This is 16.6% (±10.4 %) below the revised March rate of 709,000 and is 26.9% (±13.7%) below the April 2021 estimate of 809,000.

The average sales price was $570,300 in April 2022, an increase from $434,800 (31.2%) in April 2021.

New Housing Construction

The New Residential Construction (NRC) economic indicator provides monthly estimates of starts, completions and inventories of single-family and multifamily structures. The inventories include projects that are authorized but not yet started, as well as projects that are currently under construction.

For example, the May 2022 release shows that privately-owned housing starts in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,549,000. This is 14.4 % (±8.9 %) below the revised April estimate of 1,810,000 and is 3.5 % (±10.7 %) below the May 2021 rate of 1,605,000.

Single-family housing starts in May were at a rate of 1,051,000; this is 9.2 % (±11.0 %) below the revised April figure of 1,157,000. The May rate for units in buildings with five units or more was 469,000.

Building Materials and Furnishings

Industries that manufacture all the materials you need to build and furnish a home — from windows and doors to kitchen appliances — employ thousands and generate billions of dollars in revenue.

The U.S. Census Bureau has released an interactive visualization showing the value of shipments and employment for select manufacturing industries that produce housing-related products like paint, upholstered chairs, kitchen cabinets and other materials that make a home from the Annual Survey of Manufactures (ASM) data. Simply hover over the “dots” to find the value of shipments and employment data.

Building Permits

One of the data sources of the NRC is the Building Permits Survey which provides the number and valuation of units authorized by building permits.

The data are released monthly and annually for the U.S. total, four census regions, nine census divisions, metropolitan areas, states and counties, and for select individual jurisdictions.

Pennsylvania had the largest percent change in new privately-owned housing units that were authorized for construction in 2020-2021, followed by New Mexico and Colorado.

The Building Permits Survey Data Visualization provides easy access to current data.

The Census Bureau is exploring significant innovations to improve our New Residential Construction and our Building Permit data through satellite imaging, artificial intelligence, new data sources, and new methodology with the potential to replace survey collection methods that date back to the 1950s.

Find out more from the Census Bureau Construction Data: From Stone Age to Space Age article.

Housing Impact

The impact of the housing and construction industries is far-reaching. It extends to industries that manufacture, distribute and purchase building materials, home furnishings, appliances and other related products.

It also has an impact on the services industry, including real estate, insurance agents and brokers, finance, repair and maintenance, consumer goods rental, and more.

Stats for Stories has a complete list of all the housing-related data available from the Census Bureau.

The Exploring Census Data: Construction webinar presented on June 16, 2022, will provide even more information.

Note

Differences between estimates may be attributed to sampling or nonsampling error, rather than to differences in underlying economic conditions. Caution should be used in drawing conclusions from the estimates and comparisons shown.

Honoring The Historic Apple Valley Inn

Vision For The Future

While nobody else saw potential in the desert east of Los Angeles, Newton T. Bass and Bernard Westlund envisioned a thriving community. Newt and Bud had fallen in love with the climate and colorful landscape. They had big plans for the area, and plenty of money to make it happen. Deciding on Apple Valley Ranchos as the name, they speculated that the housing market was about to take off - and it certainly did. Potential buyers were enticed with one-acre plots and a dry, high elevation climate said to help with sinus, hay fever, and asthma. In it for long term community prosperity rather than quick profit, Newt and Bud were thoughtful developers. With such a large-scale project in front of them, they wanted to get the planning perfect before selling any lots. Working with architect Hugh Gibbs, Apple Valley Ranchos would have a hospital, airport, school, church, and more.

Apple Valley Inn

After planning out the 6,000 acres of the Apple Valley Ranchos community, Newt and Bud wanted Gibbs to design a resort-style Inn. They decided on a large main building with a swimming pool, state of the art kitchen, dining rooms, and cocktail lounges. Separate from the main building, the guests had plenty of space with private bungalows nearly 300 feet apart. Albert Parvin, who had also decorated interiors for several Las Vegas hotels combined modern features with rustic antiques for the Inn. Walls of glass let guests admire the pool and the landscape, while the beams of the ceiling reminded them of the western past. At the center of the community’s development, the Apple Valley Inn opened on Thanksgiving Day in 1948. The Inn welcomed prospective buyers and entertained guests, but in those days only white Christians were admitted. A Western-style barbecue lunch and the occasional ride in Newt’s car helped show off the charm of Apple Valley Ranchos to those that were new to the area.

Growth and Innovation

Knowing it would take some creative advertising to keep the buzz going for the Inn, a cartoon version of Newt popped up in brochures and ads. A publicity firm sent influential people their way, and Apple Valley Ranchos charmed all of them. As word got around, the Inn hosted celebrities, politicians, and other important figures. With no way to provide telephones in the guest rooms, pigeons were trained to return to the main building carrying notes from the guests. After releasing a pigeon with their written request, a waiter would bring the order and another pigeon. Occasionally, guests would feed the pigeons or bring them into the rooms and out of the weather. With popularity growing, they were able to upgrade the rooms to include guest phones and Bonanza Airlines was making frequent stops from Los Angeles.

Hollywood Attention

Throughout the 50’s and 60’s, the Apple Valley Inn was featured in movies and hosted Bob Hope, Dean Martin, Gene Autry, John Wayne, Marilyn Monroe, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Kirk Douglas, and plenty more. Presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan also visited. As remote as Apple Valley was, gossip columnist Hedda Hopper spent time the Inn hoping to catch some juicy details about the other guests. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans loved the area so much, they moved up to the high desert and took out a 25-year lease on the property, renaming it Roy Rogers Apple Valley Inn. For years, the Inn provided a fun and welcoming atmosphere for everyone that had the pleasure of being a part of it. Residents tell stories of playing at the ranch during stays, working their first jobs at the Inn’s restaurant, having high school proms and reunions there, and nearly all of them had high chances of crossing paths with a celebrity.

HAVI Marketplace

Today, the Historic Apple Valley Inn hosts monthly marketplace events giving the community a chance to gather at the foundation of Apple Valley’s history. The surrounding guest rooms have been converted into small boutiques for local businesses, giving them a unique and cozy charm. With the Apple Valley Legacy Museum on site hosting educational events at the base of the hill Newt’s house was built on, the history of the area is a shared passion. The Apple Valley Inn Barbershop is open in the same plaza as the original barber and stepping into the shop will take you back decades to the vintage gentleman’s grooming experience. Another way to experience the past is a visit to Simply Mid Century, where collectors can browse rare pieces from the era. With the main building available for select events, guests can relive the memories of the Inn’s golden era parties or create new memories in a historically significant setting. There are several other local businesses on the grounds, including the Inspired Gifts gift shop and My Zenery, with handmade items and plenty of craft projects for the community.

THE VICTOR VALLEY’S NEWEST (AND MAYBE ONLY) SUPERCENTINARIAN, Beatrice Pruitt of Hesperia, celebrated her 110 years at the Golden Corral restaurant May 22, 2022, surrounded by family members. She was born in Hope, Arkansas, on May 22, 1912, the same year the Titanic sank in the Atlantic Ocean, and five months before Dale Evans was born. I am proud and happy to have spent most of Beatrice’s past ten birthdays with her, starting with her appearing at Herb Jeffries’ 100th birthday party at age 101. I treasure all of our time together, at banquets, restaurants, the park, Apple Valley Legacy Museum events, and a family dinner at my home a few Christmases ago. Always beautifully dressed, talkative, very mobile, and ready to eat and pose for photos, Beatrice is truly amazing and a joy to be around! Thanks for sharing your beautiful self and your life. You are truly an inspiration to all of us MHS members who are interested in history. You ARE history!