Data Report 2

High Country Housing

This is the second in a continuing series of articles meant to provide demographic data and statistics to local officials and local interests to assist in their decision-making efforts.

Housing Data for the High Country

Source of the Census
The first report in this series highlighted the fact that the Census is taken every ten years and is a snapshot of the population of the states and their administrative subdivisions on the first of April of years ending in zero.  Every household in the nation is asked questions related to the name, household relationship, sex, age, and race of the people living there and whether their dwelling  is owned or rented.  In 2000, roughly 5 of every 6 households in the country got a questionnaire with just these inquiries (the Short Form).  The other one-sixth of households got these questions plus sections seeking information on other population characteristics (marital status, school enrollment-attainment, language spoken at home, veteran status, disability), economic characteristics (labor force status, place of work, occupation, income), physical housing characteristics (year structure built, number of rooms, year moved into residence, plumbing and kitchen facilities, heating fuel), and financial characteristics (value of home or monthly rent paid, recurring housing costs), known as the Long Form.

 Care was taken to provide a statistically viable sample throughout the country by having every other household in some smaller areas receive a Long Form while only one in eight households in more populated areas got the more inclusive survey.

 A Dynamic Instrument 
The 1990 Long Form sought housing-related information on source of water, sewage disposal, and condominium status that was dropped in 2000.  Other significant changes for 2000 included the addition of a section on grandparents who had primary care responsibility for their grandchildren, the option of selecting more than one race category, and a rewording of a question relating to disability which included persons 5 years and older.

 Regional and State Housing Comparisons
The High Country saw an increase of 16,794 housing units between 1990 and 2000, or 19.8% more dwellings for the region (see accompanying tables for greater detail).  The State noted a 25% rise for the same span.  Of the local additions, 61% (more than 10,000) were single unit detached  or attached homes, 26% (4,400) mobile homes, trailers, or some nontraditional type dwelling, and 12% in multi-unit quarters.  North Carolina’s new abodes were 66% single unit, 18% mobile home, trailer, or other, and 15% multi-unit.

 Data on structures’ ages showed that 57% of the Region’s structures were at least 20 years old while the State portion was 53%.   It can be seen from the Year Structure Built section that actually 21,648 new units came into existence between 1990 and 2000, but were off set by 4,852 older dwellings being removed from the Regional housing stock (a 7.7% loss of units built in 1979 or earlier).  The State saw a 6.5% reduction in its older housing stock while it actually noted 835,935 new units between 1990 and 2000.

 Occupied Housing Units
The Region realized 11,870 additional occupied housing units from 1990 to 2000, a 17.7% increase.  Comparatively, the State had 24.4% more occupied units in the last Census count.  Occupied housing in the Region had complete plumbing facilities in 99.4% of all units, entire kitchen facilities in 99.6 % of households, and phone service in 96.7% of homes.  These State’s numbers for these categories were almost identical.  About 8% of the Region’s households were without a vehicle while the State figure was 7.5%.

 Warm and Cozy
Locally, the trend has been to stop using wood or coal as a primary source of heating and to move to liquid propane, electricity, or fuel oil/kerosene.  Wood heated 22.2% of Regional homes in 1990 and only 6.9% in 2000, coal/coke heating was abandoned by three of every four homes that had used it in 1990,  while liquid propane increased from 4.5% of homes to 13.5% over the span, with electricity changing from 26%to 30% and fuel oil/kerosene up from 46% to 48%.  For the State as a whole, natural gas and electricity provided heat in nearly three of every four homes with liquid propane and fuel oil/kerosene accounting for nearly all of the other quarter.  Statewide, wood declined from heating 7.8% of households to about 2%.

 Owner-Occupied Housing Units
Persons per owner-occupied unit averaged slightly less than two and a half people in the High Country while the State as a whole was just above 2.5, though both show an absolute decline during the past decade. Housing values from the Census were determined primarily from a question on the Long Form which asked: “What is the value of this property; that is, how much do you think this house and lot, apartment, or mobile home and lot would sell for if it were for sale?”  These responses showed that in the High Country the median owner-occupied housing unit on average increased by slightly more than 70% from 1990 to 2000.  North Carolina was up 65% for the comparable time frame.  It is interesting to note that the number of homes valued at under $100,000 by their occupants declined significantly for the period in both the Region and State, either by attrition or appreciation, while those over $100,000 grew appreciably.  Some 60% of individuals reporting information on mortgages in the High Country noted a monthly owner cost in excess of $700 on their Census form while the same held true for 78% of all North Carolinians who indicated a median cost of ownership at just under $1000 per month.  People fortunate enough not to be paying a mortgage still had monthly expenses about one-fourth of those who did have a mortgage.

 Renter-Occupied Housing Units
Renter-occupied housing units comprised 24% of all lived-in structures in the High Country in 2000 compared to 30% for the State.  The average number of persons per rental household declined from 1990 to 2000 and was smaller than the average for owner-occupied units.  Households paying less than $500 per month for rent in the High Country declined by 8.5% between the Censuses while those paying over $500 increased by 326%.  Nearly 1 in 6 respondents in specified renter-occupied housing units in the Region reported paying no cash rent for their dwelling while the rate for the State was closer to 1 in 12.  Renters indicated paying 35 or more percent of their income for housing in 27.2% of rental units in the High Country, slightly higher than the 26.7% experienced in all of North Carolina.

 Vacant Housing Units
In the High Country, 22.5% of all available housing units were not occupied by a full-time resident.  This is twice the rate for all of North Carolina (11.1%).  Of the 22,906 vacant housing units in the Region, 15,391 or 67.2%, were identified as “For seasonal, recreational, or occasional use”.  The State, again, was at roughly half this percentage (34.4%).  This leaves about 7.4% of all housing units in the Region as available for ready sale or rental, about the same as the State’s 7.3%.

 We Live in Our Nest Eggs
The previous ten years saw a seven percent annual average rise in median owner-occupied housing values Region-wide while inflation was closer to three percent.  The median cost of a mortgage rose by five percent a year while interest rates declined indicating in part that we are paying more for our homes.  The monthly cost of housing runs about $2 for home owners to every $1 borne by renters, and a fourth of all renters are already investing more than 35% of their household incomes in rent. 

 An article in the June 21,2003 Charlotte Observer cites a study by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University which found that the median net wealth of homeowners nationwide was about $172,000 at the end of 2001.  The same measure for renters was less than $5,000.  A deeper look found that in the lowest 20 percent of all income-earning households, homeowners had a median net worth of $68,000 with home equity accounting for 80% of that figure in half of the instances, while renters’ median household worth at this level was $500.

 The Path Forward
Expanding on the previous report on population projections, it is expected that there will be about 17,600 additional residents in the High Country by 2010.  At roughly 2.5 persons per occupied unit, there will need to be a net gain of 7000 dwellings by 2010 for the permanent population alone.  As about 90% of all housing units in the Region were not multi unit, there will have to be in excess of 6300 new sites for homes, most of which will require wells and septic systems.  The average number of vehicles per occupied housing unit remained near two between the Censuses.  Projecting this forward would place 14,000 additional vehicles on High Country roadways on a day-to-day basis by 2010.  Current trends would divide primary heating responsibilities among the new units roughly one-third each to bottled, tank or LP gas; electricity; and fuel oil/kerosene.  Variations in cost, availability, or technological innovation could redistribute the new homes plus some portion of the existing housing stock in any new direction just as dependence on wood changed dramatically over the past decade. 

 Decisions, Decisions
Policy makers in the High Country face upcoming housing-oriented issues that will impact land usage, public services, transportation, schools, health, and other aspects of daily living.  There will be the need for jobs with wages that can pay for safe, adequate housing, homesites that preserve the environment, and amenities to maintain the quality of life.  While housing trends of the past ten years are no indication of what can be expected in the next decade, this information can help assess where we are in terms of housing goals for the future and be used to make choices toward those ends.

 For further information:
The Bureau of the Census has housing-related information on its website at www.census.gov .  The options there include the Summary File 3 (SF3) link, the Housing link under the People category, the American FactFinder (www.factfinder.census.gov), or QuickFacts (www.quickfacts.census.gov)  .

 High Country Council of Governments maintains information from these and other sources for each of its member governments on its website.  Click on the Demographics and Statistics' link at www.regiond.org or the selected county from the opening map and then the ‘Statistics, Population, Housing, Social Characteristics’ link for the desired county or town.

 The Harvard study can be found online at http://www.jchs.harvard.edu , “State of the Nation’s Housing 2003”, which requires Acrobat Reader to view.

Data