Are you curious about how your home compares with the national housing figures?

Here is a segment of a very interesting collection of statistics that Mark Brian, Silver Star Real Estate compiled from HUD’s 2009 American Housing Survey (AHS). HUD started this revealing survey in 1973, and it’s interesting to see how homes have changed. Take a look at HUD’s 2009 figures revealing everything from square footage to front porches as home owners have come to expect amenities not standard 37 years ago. 
  

•There are 130,112,000 residential housing units in the US ; 86% are occupied and median age of the American home is 36 years. 
  
•Newer constructed homes generally are larger, more expensive, have more bedrooms and baths with amenities such as central air conditioning. 
  
•68% of US homes are owner-occupied, 51% outside metropolitan areas and 37% in central cities. 
  
•The median size occupied home is 1,800sqft compared to 1,610 in 1985. 
  
•The median lot size for single-family homes including mobile homes is 0.27acres compared to .36 acres in 1973. 
  
•53% of homes have 6 or more rooms with owner-occupied units generally having more than renter-occupied. In 1973, only 39% of homes had six or more rooms. 
  
•Most homes (64%) have 3 or more bedrooms compared to 48% in 1973. And 51% of homes now have 2 or more bathrooms compared to 19% in 1973. 
  
•Most commonly used cooking fuel is electricity (60%) followed by piped gas (35%). The most commonly used heating fuel is piped gas (51%) followed by electricity at 34%. Newer units are more likely to use electricity. Most commonly used fuel of heating water is piped gas followed by electricity. About 35% homes have a fireplace. 
  
•88% receive water from a public system or private company with the remaining unitsreceiving their water from wells. More than 9 in 10 households rated their water as safe. 
  
•Eight in ten units use the public sewage disposal system and 20% use a septic tank, cesspool or chemical toilet. 
  
•66% of homes have a dishwasher, 51% have disposals in the kitchen sink and 3% have trash compactors. 
  
•More than 8 in 10 homes (84%) have a washing machine and clothes dryer at 81%. 
  
•Most homes have a phone (98%), porch, deck, balcony or patio 85% and 66% garage or carport.