Eye On Housing
According to data from the Census Bureau’s Survey of Construction (SOC), 58 percent of all homes started in 2014 were built within a community or home owner’s association. The Census Bureau defines a community or homeowner’s associations as “formal legal entities created to maintain common areas of a development and to enforce private deed restrictions; these organizations are usually created when the development is built, and membership is mandatory.”
When analyzed by the 9 census divisions, the highest share was in the Mountain Division (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) where 76.5 of new homes were in such communities. The New England (Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, and Connecticut) on the other hand, had the least share at 21.8 percent.
In the South Atlantic Division (Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia) 72.2 percent of new homes in 2014 had a community or home owner’s association, followed by the West South Central Division (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Texas) at 63.4 percent, and the Pacific Division (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington), at 48.9 percent.
In the East North Central (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin) and East South Central Division (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee) 42.7 percent and 42.2 percent of new homes started in 2014 were within a community or home owner’s association respectively.
In the West North Central Division (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota), the share of homes started in 2014 within a community or home owner’s association was 38.2 percent, while in the Middle Atlantic Division (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania), it was 29.6 percent.
I was honestly surprised to see that high of a number. I wonder why the stark differences in regions. My region, West North, was lower on the list, but 72% in South Atlantic was perplexing.
It doesn’t surprise me at all that the trend is moving towards community associations. A community association created a sort of “neighborhood” where everyone knows everyone else, events are planned for the entire community (like a Labor Day barbecue, community pool party, or Christmas Tree Lighting) and there is a sense of, well, community!