Trends in New Home Building Multi-Story Houses and Outdoor Living
December 28,
2016 by Jane Chero in General 
Trends in New Home Building Multi-Story Houses and Outdoor Living
This is the fourth factoid in a series of six factoids detailing trends in new home building. New home purchases spur new home furnishings purchases like no other life event. As home building continues its slow but steady comeback from the recession, new trends in home building are emerging creating opportunity in many home furnishings product areas. According the new HUD report, single-family home building is up 23 percent since 2009 and for the first half of this year, new home completions are up 14 percent from the first half of 2015.
Trends include an increase in bigger multi-story homes with more bedrooms, baths, and multiple patios, porches and decks on increasingly smaller lots. Other trends point to the ballooning senior population downsizing to age-restricted communities with less interest in some design features such as fireplaces, but more interest in comfort features.
Multi-story new single family homes are on the rise with 63 percent built in 2015 versus 58 percent in 2009 . Partly due to declining lot sizes paired with desire for bigger homes, single-story houses were down to 37 percent of completions in 2015.
As outdoor living has become a major feature in many new homes, multiple porches, patios, and decks are trending for the larger homes– up to 46 percent in 2015 from 43 percent in 2010. The next factoid in this series will focus on laundry room placement, the number of fireplaces, and the presence of air conditioning in new home building.
*New single-family homes completed for sale
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Characteristics of New Single-Family Houses 2015”
Trends in New Home Building Laundry Rooms, Fireplaces, and Air-Conditioning Percent of Houses Built in Selected Years
This is the fifth factoid in a series of six factoids detailing trends in new home building. New home purchases spur new home furnishings purchases like no other life event. As home building continues its slow but steady comeback from the recession, new trends in home building are emerging creating opportunity in many home furnishings product areas. According the new HUD report, single-family home building is up 23 percent since 2009 and for the first half of this year, new home completions are up 14 percent from the first half of 2015.
Trends include an increase in bigger multi-story homes with more bedrooms, baths, and multiple patios, porches and decks on increasingly smaller lots. Other trends point to the ballooning senior population downsizing to age-restricted communities with less interest in some design features such as fireplaces, but more interest in comfort features.
As more new houses are being built with multiple stories, laundry rooms are moving out of basement and off the main floor and up to top floor (second floor).
In 2015, 29 percent new homes have top floor laundry rooms compared to 16 percent in 2009 – an increase of 81 percent.
A surprising trend especially given the increasing size of new homes is that fireplaces are becoming less important except in the Northeast. And while over half (51 percent) of the new homes being built still have fireplaces, this is down from 61 percent in 2002. In the Northeast fireplaces are still important – climbing from 62 percent of new homes in 2002 to 66 percent of in 2015.
Air conditioning is becoming the norm across the country with 94 percent of new homes built with AC in 2015 – up from 89 percent in 2002. The fastest increase in new houses built with air-conditioning has been in the Northwest and West – both jumping 10 percentage points from 2002 to 2015.
*New single-family homes completed for sale
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Characteristics of New Single-Family Houses 2015”
Trends in New Home Building
This is the final factoid in a series of six factoids detailing trends in new home building. New home purchases spur new home furnishings purchases like no other life event. As home building continues its slow but steady comeback from the recession, new trends in home building are emerging creating opportunity in many home furnishings product areas. According the new HUD report, single-family home building is up 23 percent since 2009 and for the first half of this year, new home completions are up 14 percent from the first half of 2015.
Trends include an increase in bigger multi-story homes with more bedrooms, baths, and multiple patios, porches and decks on increasingly smaller lots. Other trends point to the ballooning senior population downsizing to age-restricted communities with less interest in some design features such as fireplaces, but more interest in comfort features.
An important new trend in new home communities, especially in the South, is the increase in the number of age restricted developments (generally 55+). Although still less than 5 percent of new homes built in 2015, these neighborhoods have increased 54 percent from 2009 to 2015. The Midwest and South doubled construction in age restricted developments since 2009 while the Northeast declined 33.3 percent indicating seniors making this lifestyle move want to escape the colder climates. The West showed no growth. The growth in these age restricted communities may partially explain the decline in fireplaces in warmer climates as they become less important to seniors.
New single family houses are increasingly being built in communities with structured homeowners’ associations (HOAs), except in the Northeast. In total, new homes with HOAs jumped 11 percentage points from 2009 to 2015 – 62 percent to 73 percent. In the South these structured communities are especially important with 81 percent of new homes built in neighborhoods with an HOA. Meanwhile, in the Northeast in 2015, homes built in HOA communities represented only 40 percent of the region’s new construction.
*New single-family homes completed for sale
Source: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, “Characteristics of New Single-Family Houses 2015”