Take a decade-by-decade tour through the past 100 years of buying, selling, and owning homes.
DIY Homeownership
The goal of owning your own home was supported by BHGfrom the start.
What Makes a Home?
Credit:Better Homes & Gardens
There are certain rooms every family must have.
For gracious and pleasant living, we need a living room, dining room, hall and kitchen.
In September 1926, BHGpublished a letter from a reader sharing tips on practicing thriftiness at home.
1930s: A More Modest Approach to the Home
The 1930s were defined by economic hardship.
The Great Depression lasted until 1939, with financial impacts on all areas of lifeespecially housing and homeownership.
By the 1940 Census, that rate had fallen below 44%.
Owning a Home with Care
BHG reflected a modest approach to the home during this time.
Then, too, property values have gone down, temporarily at least.
There isnt a chance to sell without taking a loss.
Credit:Better Homes & Gardens
And when values rise again the house will be that much more behind the times.
By 1939, the U.S. housing market was settling into a new normaland then World War II began.
By the end, that number had skyrocketed to 55%a home-owning majority for the first time.
Credit:Better Homes & Gardens
The early 40s were almost entirely dedicated to the war effort.
After World War II ended in 1945, though, everything changed.
According to Census data, construction began on 530,000 new housing units in 1940.
Credit:Better Homes & Gardens
Finally, even laundry rooms evolved during this period.
Laundries no longer need be dark, steamy cubbyholes, we wrote.
Modern equipment makes laundries as smart and attractive as kitchens.
Credit:Better Homes & Gardens
You could even say the 40s marked the beginning of theopen floor plan.
Even in low-cost homes, theyre not needed to hold up the roof.
That means we can judge partitions in terms of what they do.
Credit:Better Homes & Gardens
We can use them where privacy is important, eliminate them in related living areas.
This emancipation has brought a new concept to home architectureopen planning.
It has many advantages, but the greatest in a small home is the feeling of spaciousness.
Credit:Better Homes & Gardens
There is no sign that building costs are going to drop much in the near future, we wrote.
But that neednt stop you from having a home of your own.
One good way is to buy an old building and remodel it.
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Not any old building, thoughit must be structurally sound and capable of being renovated.
When you want to sell, you will probably be as well off financially, too.
(Data on the homeownership rate among Hispanic/Latino communities became available starting in 1970.)
Credit:Better Homes & Gardens
The 1940s were a period of enormous shifts in housebuilding and buying.
Comparatively, the 50s were a period of continuation, rather than extreme change.
Thismarked a shiftin federal emphasis from new construction to conservation and housing rehabilitation, a reprioritization that continues today.
Credit:Better Homes & Gardens
(One article even recommended converting garages into living space to get more house for less.)
Today, we know this layout as thebi-level or split-foyer home.
The 50s also introduced a new concept in home-buyingtrading in.
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The Black homeownership rate in 1950 was 34.5%, while the rate for White families was 57%.
(The rate of Asian homeownership had climbed from 16.3% in 1940 to 30.3% in 1950.
For homeowners new and old, the desire for more modern spaces continued.
Credit:Susan Gilmore
we wrote in 1969.
But beyond these intangibles is a sound financial reason for home ownership.
By the end of the decade, that sound financial reason wasnt so certain.
Credit:Better Homes & Gardens
That financial uncertainty continued into the 70s, a period of relative stagnation for the housing market.
The Black homeownership rate remained the lowest of any group.
The cost ofbuyinga new home has more than doubled in the past eight years, said a 1979 BHGarticle.
Credit:Better Homes & Gardens
And 1979 prices are even higher.
Thats bad enough, but theres more.
The cost ofowning and operatinga home has gone up almost as fast as the cost of buying.
Credit:Nathan Kirkman
Even as costs increased, though, people still wanted more from their homes.
Well, that doesnt cut it anymore.
Homes were getting bigger, too.
Credit:David Greer
The median single-family home at the time was around 1,600 square feet.
Nothing new about the desire: Owning your own home is a goal thats never wavered.
Its the house itself thats being modified.
Credit:Thayer Gowdy
Bigger Is Better
However one obtained a home, what that home looked like was changing.
These changes reflected a shiftone we still see todayin priority.
Theres a big difference when people are choosing between wants and needs, right?
A want is aspirational, and a need is more functional.
Most of todays buyers have specific needs and wants in mind when they consider their dream home.
Most dont move until they find a house that says, This is the real me.
In the 80s, homeowners wanted more spaceand less shared spaceto support their busy lives and hobbies.
Most dont move until they find a house that says, This is the real me.
It has to have most of the things they want right when they buy it.
And theyre willing to spend a little more on quality, we wrote in 1989.
The home-buying conditions of the time were beginning to reflect the landscape we see today.
Owning a home is the dream of most families, Jordans letter continued.
Of course, times have been tough for aspiring homeowners.
Its hard and harder for young folks to save up for a down payment.
More space wasnt the only draw of new homes.
People also craved the comfort and convenienceand updated styles.
New houses mirror todays lifestyles, an April 1997 article in BHGreads.
Families live differently than they did just 15 or 20 years ago.
Cooking is a group experience, and no one wants to be too far from the television.
New homes blend the kitchen, eating area, and family room into one informal space.
New houses also have more and larger bathrooms and closets.
Many households were trying to improve the homes they already had, efforts supported by BHG.
And some are finding that the best place to invest is in their home itself.
The Great Recession
By 2007, our pages hinted at a decrease in home buying interest.
Still, data pointed toward a still-growing housing marketuntil the Great Recession changed everything.
Families across the United States lost their homesand the equity theyd invested into them.
The Great Recession shook long-held beliefs that buying was nearly alwaysbetter than renting.
For decades, BHGreflected the cultural assumption that buying a home was a goal for most people.
A home is a potential built-in savings account, a June 2018 article said.
That said, we wrote later in the article, buying isnt the best choice for everyone whos able.
An expert quoted in the story even advised against buying just for the sake of buying.
By 2019, though, rates had started to climb again.
Black households were left out of this rebound.
Even after social distancing restrictions eased, the rush to purchase a home continued.
The national homeownership rate spiked from 65.3% at the start of 2020 to 67.9% by mid-year.
At the end of 2022, the market is already cooling off.
This is not normal, saysGeoff Greenof the Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate Green Team.
This is going away.
This is not how its going to be.
This is not how real estate markets are, ever.
That was the unicorn bang out of situation.
You need a lot of things to be stable to buy a house.
So [the data we use today] is based on data that was originally segregational and redlined.
You have more information at your fingertips, Gore-Mann says.
The key to everything is transparency.
Theyre a little bit more discerning.
People will prefer to look at their home before they buy it, Green says.
As we settle in to a more normalized marketplace, that will be the way people buy homes again.
I dont think thats going away.
Its a function of how much money people have.
If you take a look at todays starter home, its also someones downsize, Masiello says.
People move up and down the ladder of housing styles depending on where they are in their lifecycle.
I think the starter home is very much a real concept, Green says.
That will not stop.
Because people just like new things.
I dont think its really feasible for most people to stay in one home for their whole life.
Its just too difficult because our lives are too transient.
Nowadays, people actually spend more time at home, Masiello says.
Historical Census of Housing Tables: Homeownership.U.S.
“Homeownership Rate in the United States.“U.S.
Census Bureau, retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
“Construction and Housing: Construction (Series N 1-155).“U.S.
Census Bureau,Bicentennial Edition: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970s.
“‘A Forgotten History’ of How the U.S. Government Segregated America.“NPR.
“Median Home Values: Unadjusted.“U.S.
“Median Home Values: Adjusted to 2000 Dollars.“U.S.
“Average Sales Price of Houses Sold for the United States.“U.S.
Henderson T. Black families fall further behind on Homeownership Stateline.
October 13, 2022.
Accessed August 5, 2024. https://stateline.org/2022/10/13/black-families-fall-further-behind-on-homeownership/.
“Characteristics of New Housing.“U.S.
“32 Years of Housing Data.“U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research.
“Homeownership Rates by Race and Ethnicity: Black Alone in the United States.“U.S.
Census Bureau, retrieved from FRED, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
2022 Snapshot of Race and Homebuying in America.National Association of Realtors Research Group.
“Highlights of 2021 Characteristics of New Housing.
“U.S.
