Four
of the five states with the largest percentage increases in housing
units between April 1, 2000, and July 1, 2003, are in the West,
the U.S. Census Bureau reported today.
Nevada led all states with a 13
percent increase in the number of homes over the 39-month period.
It was followed by Arizona, Colorado and Georgia (all about 9
percent) and Utah (8 percent). (See Table 1. PDF
| Excel)
Nevada
has had the highest annual rate of population growth for 17 consecutive
years.
Texas added about half a million
new homes to its housing inventory between 2000 and 2003 to lead
the nation in numerical growth. These gains boosted Texas’
housing inventory to 8.7 million in 2003. Florida was a close
second, adding 485,000 housing units over the period. California
(up 442,000), Georgia (295,000) and North Carolina (257,000) rounded
out the top five in this category. (See Table 1. PDF
| Excel)
At the county level, Lincoln,
S.D., near Sioux Falls, led with a 31 percent increase in the
number of housing units over the period. However, the rest of
the top 10 was dominated by counties in the Atlanta metropolitan
area — Henry (second), Paulding (third), Newton (sixth)
and Forsyth (10th). Loudoun, Va. (fourth) and Douglas, Colo. (fifth)
also made the top five, with Rockwall, Texas; Teton, Idaho; and
Kendall, Ill., coming in at seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.
(See Table 2. PDF
| Excel)
Many of these counties
also were among the fastest growing in terms of population change.
Maricopa County, Ariz., which
includes Phoenix, was the biggest numerical gainer in the supply
of homes, adding 136,000. Clark County (Las Vegas), Nev., and
Harris County (Houston), Texas, followed closely, adding 89,000
and 86,000 units, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 counties
were two others in Texas (Tarrant and Travis, home of Fort Worth
and Austin, respectively), three in southern California (Riverside,
San Diego and Los Angeles), and Mecklenburg (Charlotte), N.C.,
and Miami-Dade, Fla. (See Table 3. PDF
| Excel)
Los Angeles County, Calif., had
the largest total number of housing units in 2003, 3.3 million,
followed by Cook County (Chicago), Ill., 2.1 million and Maricopa,
Ariz., 1.4 million.
The estimates are based on Census
2000 counts supplemented by administrative records such as building
permits.
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