Fun fact: The average lifespan of a house in the US is between 50 and 63 years, from construction to demolition.
Discussion
Demolition? Why?
Cost of maintenance is not worth it + people need to bring old stuff up to code. I am getting psychologically ready to demolish my parent's house these days..
I was consulting ChatGPT regarding your post. Its saddening. Isn't it?
We've considered demolishing our house and building a smaller one. All the value is in the land at this point. It's a tough call, but the efficiency increases would be massive. Sunk cost fallacy is tough to overcome.
I am always a big fan and strong proponent of downsizing hard after kids go out, regardless of the state of the house.
My mom downsized it to 20% of the house she had. She couldn't be happier now.
For newly built houses? Probably. The house we live was built in 1870. And will probably last another 150 yrs.
no, these are stats from existing houses. So, it's all about the old stuff. The new ones have not been demolished yet.
I live in New England. I don't know what study this is, but it's completely incorrect for this part of the country. Not trying to argue, but the houses up here are, mostly, old as hell.
Nem England is the oldest region, with the oldest building techniques that have been passed down from Eupope.
Post full fiat standard, development happened towards the west with “modern” building methods optimized for minimizing cost, and build time.
I can't argue with that.
I live in Boston. I think there is a bias in that view. We only see old houses that are remaining. We don't see the ones that have been demolished. There are even laws in place to forbid people from demolishing even if they wanted to.
FYI, the mean age of houses in Mass is 59 years old. There are plenty of "new" stuff despite the regulatory hassle and the fact that Mass is one of the oldest states in the US.
You're probably right in that I have a bias. I'm in NH. I'm only an hr from you. And yes, historical society's are pretty stupid. If that's what you were hinting at.
However, if you're using the mean age, then you are including a house that was just built last yr. If you take 1 house that was built yesterday, and average it with a house that was built 150 yrs ago....? The numbers skew themselves in that measurement.
So the more you build now, then the more the numbers are skewed in taking the average/mean down.
So if you’re buying a home today built in 1990 with a 30 year mortgage, you’re saying that’s clearly a good investment.
Yes, although 30% of the houses are built prior to 1960.
fun? 👀
1924 house here. Definitely not in the US though.
My house is 111 years old. It's a mix of new and old. Not great but not terrible either.