NA Not available.
1 Excludes homes not yet sold.
2 Prior to 1996, Farmers Home Administration.
3 Included with "Conventional" financing.
4 Included with floor area of 2,000 to 2,399 square feet.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Dept. of Housing and UrbanDevelopment, Current Construction Reports, series C25, New One-FamilyHouses Sold, monthly, and Characteristics of New Housing, annual.

http://www.census.gov/const/www/index.html*Definitions

Bathroom. For the purposes of this survey, a full bath-roomis one that has a wash basin, a toilet, and either abathtub or shower, or a combination of bathtub and shower.A half bathroom is one that has either a toilet, bathtub, orshower, but not all the facilities to be classified as a fullbathroom. If the respondent reported a full bathroom andtwo half bathrooms, the house is classified as a two-bathroomhouse.

Bedroom. A bedroom is a finished room specificallydesigned to be used for sleeping. A den, a space in theattic, or a basement which could be converted to a bed-roomare not counted as bedrooms.

Contractor-built houses. This category includes all housesbuilt for owner occupancy on owners land with construc-tionunder the supervision of a single general contractor.

Contractor price. The contract price used in this surveyfor contractor-built houses is the price on the originalcontract awarded to the general contractor. The contractprice does not reflect any subsequent changes in the priceresulting from change orders or from any other factorsaffecting the price of the house. It does not include the costof any contracts awarded to a different contractor for workon the grounds around the house, nor does it include anyproposed expenditures on the house after construction iscompleted by the general contractor. Finally, because thehouse is being built for the owners occupancy on his ownland, the contract price does not include the cost of theland.

The median contract price is equal to the middle point ofall contract prices reported. The point is chosen so that halfthe contract prices of houses started are below the medianand half are above the median. The average, or arithmeticmean, contract price is obtained by dividing the sum of allcontract prices by the number of houses reporting contractprices.

Financing, type of. The type of financing tabulated in thissurvey is the type reported at the time the original salesagreement was signed or deposit accepted. However,changes in the type of financing do occur between theoriginal contract signing and final settlement. These changesare not reflected in the tables.

The FHA and VA type-of-financing data presented tend to differ from those published directly by thoseagencies. For the actual number of FHA-insured andVA-guaranteed loans made for new houses at the time offinal settlement, refer to the publications of the respectiveagencies. The data differ because of the difference in timeperiods between the signing of the original sales contract,the start of construction, and the insurance or guarantee ofthe mortgage, as well as the sampling variability in thissurvey.

Early in 1995 the Farmers Home Administration wasreorganized. As part of this reorganization the Rural Hous-ingService now handles the mortgage functions formerlydone by the Farmers Home Administration.

Fireplace (indoor). An indoor fireplace is defined as anopen recess in a chimney in which a fire may be built.Included are those made of masonry, tile, metal, or otherpermanently installed materials that are a fixed and integralpart of the building.

Floor area. For this survey, floor area is defined as allcompletely finished floor space, including space in base-mentsand attics with finished walls, floors, and ceilings.In concept, measurement is based on exterior dimen-sions.Measurements are taken to the outside of exteriorwalls for detached houses. Half stories are measured tothe outside of enclosing partitions. Row houses are mea-suredfrom the centerline of party walls to the outsidesurface of the exterior walls. For purposes of this survey,where the floor area for a new house was reported basedon interior dimensions, the figure was converted to exteriordimensions by multiplying by a standard conversion factorof 1.08. A standard conversion factor of 1.04 was used toconvert figures to exterior dimensions where it was notknown whether the reported area was based on exterior orinterior dimensions.

Heat pump. Heat pump refers to a heating/coolingsystem which utilizes indoor and outdoor coils, a compressor,and refrigerant to pump hot air in during the winter andout during the summer. Only heat pumps that are centrallyinstalled with ducts to the rooms are included in thiscategory.

Housing unit. A housing unit is defined as a single roomor group of rooms intended as separate living quarters bya family, by a group of unrelated persons living together, orby a person living alone. Separate living quarters are thosein which the occupants do not live and eat with any otherpersons in the structure and which have direct access fromthe outside of the building or through a common hall whichis used or intended to be used by the occupants of anotherunit or the general public.

In addition to single-family detached houses, the definitionof single-family houses also includes those townhousesattached together in groups of two or more whichare partitioned from each other by a ground-to-roof wall.Also, these units must not share heating/air-conditioningsystems or interstructural public utilities, such as watersupply, power supply, or sewage disposal lines.New houses sold. The category, houses sold, includesall houses for which a sales contract has been signed or adeposit accepted. This includes houses for which a salescontract is signed or deposit accepted before constructionis actually started; for instance, houses sold from a modelor from plans before any work is started on the footings orfoundations. It also includes houses sold while underconstruction or after completion; that is, houses built onspeculation.Owner-built houses. This category includes houses builtfor owner occupancy, on owners land, under the supervi-sionof the owner acting as his own general contractor: (1)in most cases built partly by owner and partly with paidhelp; (2) sometimes built entirely with the employment ofsubcontractors; and (3) in a smaller number of cases, on ado-it-yourself basis.

Sale. The sale of the new house occurs with the signing ofa sales contract or the acceptance of a deposit. This surveydoes not follow through to the final stage of the salestransaction. Land must be included in the transaction.

Sales price. The sales price used in this survey is theprice agreed upon between purchaser and seller (andreported by the latter) at the time the first sales contract issigned or deposit is made for the house. The sales pricedoes not reflect any subsequent price changes resultingfrom change orders or from any other factors affecting theprice of the house. Furthermore, the sales price does notinclude the cost of any extras or options paid for in cash bythe purchaser or otherwise not included in the originalsales price reported by the seller.

Story. That portion of a building between the floor and theceiling or roof, or the next floor above in the case of amultistory house. A basement is not counted as a storyeven if it is finished as a den or recreation room. Housesreferred to as bi-levels or split foyers are classified astwo-story houses.

Half story. A story finished as living accommodationslocated wholly or partly within the roof frame is consid-ereda half story; it is tabulated in this survey as a wholestory; for example, one and one-half stories is countedas two.

Split level. Identifies a structure having floors on morethan one level when the difference in some floor levels isless than one story. This definition is interpreted on thebasis of local custom and may vary from area to area.

*