Where You Can Get More House for the Money

The Characteristics of New Housing provides national, annual data on features like square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, type of wall material, and sales prices of new, privately owned residential structures. And the Survey of Construction (SOC), which is partially funded by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), provides many regional characteristics.

According to the Characteristics of New Housing, 666,000 single-family houses built and sold in the United States in 2023. The median price (half cost less, half more) was $428,600  and the median size was 2,286 square feet with a median price per square foot of $154.70.

What new home buyers got for their money varied by region. The median price and square footage of new single-family homes sold in 2023 in the:

• Northeast: $760,700, 2,430 square feet.
• Midwest: $396,300, 2,172 square feet.
• South: $388,800, 2,335 square feet.
• West: $536,200, 2,170 square feet.

Sales of new single‐family houses in May 2024 — the most recent stats available — were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 619,000, lower than the April rate, according to the latest New Residential Sales (NRS) estimates released by the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

This was 11.3% (±15.5%) below the revised April rate of 698,000 and 16.5% (±16.2%) below the May 2023 estimate of 741,000.

The NRS 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.

The median sales price of new houses built and sold nationwide in May 2024 was $417,400.

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), existing single-family home sales decreased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 3.74 million in April, down 2.1% from 3.82 million in March and 1.3% from the prior year.

The median existing single-family home price was $412,100 in April, up 5.6% from April 2023.

The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 7.03% as of May 30, up from 6.94% the previous week and up from 6.79% one year ago, according to Freddie Mac (the Federal National Mortgage Association and leading source of mortgage financing in the United States).  

In 2023, 73% of new single-family houses sold were purchased using conventional financing.

Conventional financing is the primary way new home buyers paid for their purchases. It’s a mortgage loan not guaranteed by any government agency, such as the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) or Veteran’s Administration (VA).

Eight percent of new houses were purchased with cash and 13% were financed with FHA insured loans in 2023.

Nationally, the median square feet of new single-family houses sold in 2023 was 2,286. Median square feet of new homes sold in the:

• Northeast: 2,430 square feet.
• Midwest: 2,172 square feet.
• South: 2,335 square feet.
• West: 2,170 square feet.

The share of homes with four bedrooms or more that were sold was 50% in 2023.

The share of new single-family homes with four bedrooms sold in 2023 by region:

• Northeast: 35%.
• Midwest: 44%.
• South: 54%.
• West: 47%.

In 2023, 35% of the 666,000 homes sold had three or more bathrooms.

Of the 666,000 new single-family homes sold in 2023: 

• 32% in the Northeast did not have a fireplace and 65% there had only one fireplace. 
• 98% in the West had air-conditioning.
• 77% in the Northeast had vinyl siding and 34% in the South had brick as the primary exterior wall material.
• 33% in the South were heated with gas and 67% in the South were heated with electricity.
• 92% in the Midwest were heated with a forced-air furnace and 8% in the Midwest with a heat pump.
• 5% did not have a patio, porch or deck as an outdoor feature.
• 12% in the West had a crawl space foundation.

Tour the interactive house below to find economic data on additional housing characteristics.

The survey methodology provides additional information, including sampling and nonsampling error.