The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Harvard University have recently teamed up to issue “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2010,” an assessment of the nation’s housing outlook and recent trends.

Among the more interesting of finding summaries include:

  • Fewer new homes were started in 2009 than in any year since World War II.

  • First-time home purchases rose from 36 percent of all homebuyers in 2006 to 45 percent in 2009.

  • The remodeling market took a downturn in 2009, but not as big a downturn as new construction. Real homeowner improvement spending sagged 25 percent from 2006 to 2009.

  • The U.S. median home price dropped from $227,100 in 2006 to $166,100 in 2009.

    • It’s good to see housing affordability on the rise and an increase in first-time homebuyers, but the numbers for new home construction and remodeling underscore the effect that the recession has had on the industry as a whole. To learn more about “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2010,” go to the Joint Center for Housing Studies.

    Credit: USGBC