Friday, April 22, 2005
God Bless America
America is a fine, fine place to live and the exurbs are even better. At least that's how I read this article (h/t Catallarchy). Though I don't think Mother Jones meant the article as a positive.
Some highlights:
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Some highlights:
Since 1950, the average new house has increased by 1,247 sq. ft. Meanwhile, the average household has shrunk by 1 person.In related news, Preethi and I are putting in an offer on this townhouse tomorrow. It's not in the exurbs, but it is on the very edge of suburban Lynchburg.
The National Association of Home Builders’ “showcase home” for 2005 is 5,950 sq. ft. That’s 15% bigger than last year’s model.
More than 50% of exurban lots are 10 acres or larger. Exurban homes account for 80% of residential development since 1994.
In 1950, 1 in 100 homes had 2.5 baths or more. Today, 1 in 2 do. [yeah, but how many have 20?]
14 million households own 4 or more TVs.
1 in 5 new homes is larger than 3,000 sq. ft.—the size at which it becomes unmanageable to clean without hired help. [WTF? 3000 sq ft requires hired help to clean? Now if it was this house...]
Sales of Sub-Zero and other “premium” and “superpremium” refrigerators have been rising by 15% a year.
Since 2001, the number of Americans who have bought second homes has increased by 24%.
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