Real Estate Fun Facts!
For the past year, I’ve been sharing real estate trivia with you all, and it’s been so much fun diving into those interesting facts and figures. From quirky tidbits to industry insights, it’s been a great way to learn more about the world of real estate together. I thought it would be a fun
to take some of those trivia topics and turn them into a blog.
Some of these topics might even sound familiar if you’ve seen my trivia posts before!
In Japan, most homes are demolished and/or rebuilt every 30 years. Yes, it’s true. Conventional wisdom in the West is that homes are an appreciating asset. Which is to say they increase in value over time, assuming the owners maintain the upkeep and occasionally make updates to their investment. Not in Japan, however. The Northeast Asian Island country, the 11th most populous country in the world, views homes as a depreciating asset and often rebuilds after 20-30 years. Commercial properties and houses of worship are generally excluded from single score demolition. Why are rebuilds so frequent? Well, it appears the answer is mostly cultural. Japanese society has mainly embraced modernity and doesn’t tend to attach much sentimental meaning to the homes themselves.
The US state with the highest median sales price is Hawaii. While most people would’ve probably assumed California or New York, stories of their overpriced and undersized dwellings routinely filtering in to the news cycle, the highest median home sale prices can be found in the tropical archipelago of Hawaii. So why is the Pacific Paradise so pricey? Two reasons: one, desirability. Simple as that. Lots of folks want to visit or move to Hawaii. That demand drives up prices. The other, lesser discussed, is regulations. For that, I’ll refer you to this article which breaks down all the arguments for the position. The most glaring statistic I noticed within was that it takes an average of 10 years for homebuilders to turn a vacant piece of land into new housing because of the various codes and enforcement. Not sure if the regulations are good or bad but the extended gestation period can’t be good for inventory.
1/3 of American homes are Pet-less. 32.1% of all US homes feature a feline companion. 45.5% of homes own a dog. I’m sure there’s some crossover in there. The most startling statistic of all? About 30% of homes have neither. Nor do they have birds, fish, reptiles or anything else. That means that just under 1/3 of all US homes have no pets at all.
The White House has 132 rooms. 35 of which are bathrooms. If you have 132 rooms, that means that every 3rd room or so in the place is a bathroom, right? This led me to look up statistics pertaining to the average number of bathrooms in residential homes and, sure enough, the number has actually increased from 2.2 in 1987 to 2.8 in 2020. Current stats indicate that there are, on average, three bedrooms in American households. So, the number of bathrooms at the seat of our government is really what one would expect based on the number of rooms. Are we getting a glimpse of yet another new normal? One where every bedroom gets its own bath?
Brass door knobs are the most germ-free option. Now why do microbiologists get as jazzed up over brass door knobs as most people do Taco Tuesdays? Well, that’s because of a natural chemical process called the Oligodynamic Effect, wherein brass self-sterilizes. Hold the Lysol wipes, Janet!
25% of homeowners with a two-car garage never park in it. It appears ¼ of all homeowners with a two-car garage are electing to use them for storage or workshops as opposed to weather-protectant car parks.
Buckingham Palace is the most expensive piece of residential real estate in the world. Well, I guess this one’s not really a shocker. After all, this piece from MSN lists the total value of the top 10 residential properties owned by the royal family as $8.1 billion. On its own, Buckingham Palace comes in around $1.5 billion.
Black doors bring the value! Believe it or not, homes with a black front door, on average, sell for around $6,000 more than their more colorful counterparts.
The highest sale price for a home in the USA last year was $210 million. Where was this massive sale? Malibu, California. Not surprising at all.
Stay tuned for more real estate insights, trivia, and fun facts in the future!
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