When it comes to homeownership, some buyers prefer towns steeped in history and, given the opportunity, choose to restore historic homes to their former glory.
Historic preservation is a way of preserving the uniqueness of a city and showing its history. While this is a popular concept in many cities, there are many places in some that feel different. For example, in Japan, houses are often demolished every 30 years. In America, Austin, Texas residents are also less likely to find historic homes. This city had the highest percentage of new homes built after 2014 in this dataset.
For those looking for the charm of historic homes, the New Jersey Real Estate Network collected Census Bureau data to find the metropolitan areas with the highest number of old homes. There are 23,842,900 homes in the United States built before 1949, about 17% of all homes.
Several cities on this list date back to colonial times. Other areas boomed as industry and rail transport expanded. However, in many small towns, after the steel, mining, textile and rail industries collapsed, people moved away and the demand for new construction dropped significantly.
The data for this ranking comes from the Census Bureau’s 2020 Five-Year American Community Survey. Metros are ranked based on the percentage of total residential units in the area that were built before 1949. The percentages displayed are rounded.
