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INTRODUCTION
The Property Owners and Managers Survey (POMS) Overview, Summary Tables, and Source and Accuracy Statement are now available from the U.S. Census Bureau. POMS was designed to learn more about rental housing and the providers of rental housing. The purpose was to gain a better understanding of the property owners and managers on whom the nation depends to provide affordable rental housing and what motivates their rental and maintenance policies. Interviewing for the survey was done between November 1995 and June 1996.
A nationwide sample of approximately 16,300 housing units which were rented or vacant-for-rent in the 1993 American Housing Survey National Sample (AHS-N) was selected, and a questionnaire was mailed to the property owner, manager, or other agent of the owner of each property containing a selected unit. Detailed information was collected on maintenance, management practices, tenant policy, financial aspects of rental property ownership, owner characteristics, and related topics.
Analysts can use survey results to answer the question: Who are the owners of the nation's rental units and do their actions differ greatly between different segments of the rental market? The survey results also can be used to analyze the problems facing owners and managers of rental units, and as an aid in understanding more about what are considered priorities by owners and managers.
POMS SAMPLE AREAS
The addresses included in the POMS sample were limited to counties and independent cities in the 438 sampling areas used for the Census Bureau's 1993 American Housing Survey (AHS) National Sample.
UNITS INCLUDED
A unit (and the property containing the unit) was included in the survey if it was a privately owned rental unit in the 1993 AHS-N, and was still a rental at the time of the POMS (November 1995 to June 1996). A unit was considered rental if it was either rented for cash rent, occupied by someone other than the owner without payment of cash rent, or vacant but available for rent.
UNITS EXCLUDED
The following types of units (and the properties containing these units) were either excluded from the original sample, or were identified as being out of the scope of the survey during the conduct of the survey.
- Units owned by a public housing authority
- Units owned by the United States Military or any other federal agency
- Units that were owner-occupied
- Units that were vacant, but were available for sale only
- Units that were vacant, but were not available for rent or sale
- Units used primarily as second or vacation homes
- Units that were rental at the time of the 1993 AHS-N, but were no longer rental at the time of the POMS (November 1995 to June 1996)
- Units that became rental after the 1993 AHS-N, i.e., new construction and units converted from owner to rental
RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER SURVEYS
This survey does not duplicate work done in other Census Bureau surveys or studies that deal with rental units or properties, but can be used to supplement such surveys as the American Housing Survey (AHS) and the Residential Finance Survey (RFS).
RELATED PRODUCTS
There are two public use microdata files available. The first is for units in single-unit rental properties which include:
- Single-family detached houses
- Single-family attached houses, rowhouses, or townhouses
- Single housing units attached to a business
- Condominium units (house or apartment)
- Cooperative units (house or apartment)
- Mobile homes
The second is for units in multi-unit rental properties (two or more housing units) which include:
- Units in apartment buildings or complexes (non-condominium or cooperative)
- Single-family houses with an extra unit such as a garage, attic, or basement apartment
- Units in duplexes or triplexes
- Units in any other property with two or more housing units
REVISIONS TO POMS DATA FILES
The MWEIGHT variable in the Property Owners and Managers Survey (POMS) microdata is designed to allow aggregation and analysis at the level of the housing unit. In particular, MWEIGHT is not appropriate to analyze the data at the level of the property, something of interest to users of the multifamily dataset. We have added a new variable, PROPWGT, which does allow this analysis.
UPGRADING
If you have already downloaded the POMS datasets, there is no
need to download the full versions again. All you want to do
is add the property weights, which may be found in these files:
PMSASPWT.EXE -- SAS transport files.
PMASCPWT.EXE -- Fixed-column ASCII files.
These ZIP archives include documentation files.
In order to add the property weights to your existing
multifamily data, you need to match ID variable in the existing
data with the ID variable in the property weight file. The SAS
version of the ZIP file includes a sample SAS program which
demonstrates how to do this. If you are using the ASCII files, how you match the data will depend on the software you are using. Because of the variety of analysis software in use, HUD is unable to provide detailed instructions.
FULL DATA FILES
If you have not yet downloaded the multifamily data, then use one of these files:
PMSASMLT.EXE -- SAS transport files.
PMASCMLT.EXE -- Fixed-column ASCII files.
PMDBFMLT.EXE -- dBASE format.
The property weights have already been merged into the SAS transport file. The ASCII ZIP file contains a separate file containing the property weights and IDs. These must be merged with the main file by matching IDs.
SINGLE FAMILY DATA
There are no property weights for the POMS single family data set, because they are not needed. The unit weights (the SWEIGHT variable) and the property weights are the same for single-family properties.
These files are available on magnetic tape or CD-ROM. They can be ordered from the Administrative and Customer Services Division, Customer Services (Order Desk), Bureau of the Census, Washington, DC 20233.
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