Research and Course Guides: Real Estate and Housing Industry Resources: Statistical/Demographic Data

Real Estate Data & Statistics on the Open Web

American Housing Survey. DHUD
National and metropolitan statistics for apartments, single-family homes, mobile homes, vacant homes, family composition, income, housing and neighborhood quality, housing costs, equipment, fuels, size of housing unit, and recent movers. National data are collected every other year, from a fixed sample of about 50,000 homes, plus new construction each year. The survey started in 1973, and has had the same sample since 1985, letting you see homes and households changing over the years.
Census Bureau Data Tools
This is the US Census Bureau's online tool for finding national census and survey information. It draws data from the Decennial Census, American Community Survey, Population Estimates Program, Economic Census, and Annual Economic Surveys.
Characteristics of New Housing
Provides national, annual data on the characteristics of new privately-owned residential structures, such as square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, type of wall material, and sales prices. Many characteristics are available at the region level. The data are from the Survey of Construction (SOC)
Building Permit Survey
Monthly and annual data from the Census Bureau on the number of new housing units authorized by building permits.
Construction Statistics
Information on residential construction statistics. Includes sales, construction statistics, new housing and improvement data, manufactured home information, and a construction price index.
Energy Information Administration (U.S. Dept. of Energy) Residential and Commercial Building Statistics
Includes energy usage data from various surveys broken down by market: residential, commercial, manufacturing, vehicle, etc. Each market has further categories analyzing type and strength of usage. Data is updated regularly as surveys are completed.
Housing Statistics (US Census Bureau)
Get current projections and historical information from the census as well as the American Housing Survey data. Historical data goes back to 1900.
HUD Online Library
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports and datasets.
HUD User Research Porlal
From HUD's Office of Policy Development & Research; includes research, publications, and datasets. Provides access to original data sets including the American Housing Survey, HUD median family income limits, as well as microdata from research initiatives on topics such as housing discrimination, the HUD-insured multifamily housing stock, and the public housing population.
National Association of Realtors: Research & Statistics
Historical and forecast industry statistics; research reports.
New Residential Construction
Survey by the Census Bureau provides national and regional data on the number of new housing units authorized by building permits; authorized, but not started; started; under construction; and completed. The data are for new, privately-owned housing units, excluding "HUD-code" manufactured (mobile) homes.
New Residential Sales
Survey provides provides national and regional data on the number of new single-family houses sold and for sale. It also provides national data on median and average prices, the number of houses sold and for sale by stage of construction, and other statistics. The data are from the Survey of Construction (SOC),
Zillow Housing Data
Monthly housing metrics for the U.S. and metro areas.
Inside Airbnb
The data behind the Inside Airbnb site is sourced from publicly available information from the Airbnb site. The data has been analyzed, cleansed and aggregated to faciliate public discussion. See the "Get the Data" section to download data for select cities and regions around the world.

Dynamic Demographic Mapping!

SimplyAnalytics
Create custom thematic maps, datasets, and reports using extensive data on demographics, consumers, real estate, housing, employment, crime, health, and more. Data includes MRI-Simmons consumer survey data, Nielsen Scarborough local insights, consumer expenditures and buying power, as well as public data sources such as the U.S. Census, American Community Survey, FBI uniform crime reports, NOAA climate data, and CDC health data. Limited to 5 simultaneous users.
SimplyAnalytics user guide

Library Subscription Statistical Sources

These resources are often useful places to consult in your search for statistics. Use the tabs above to help isolate the type of data you're seeking.

Statista
Statista is an easy-to-search database of frequently sought statistics and studies gathered by government sources, scientific publications, market researchers, non-profits, trade organizations, etc. Individual statistics are usually displayed as a graph and charts can be downloaded in PNG, PowerPoint, Excel or PDF formats or embedded in web pages. Search results also display dossiers (topical collections of statistics), infographics, country, industry, and some company reports
Statistical Abstract of the United States
The national data book online. Frequently the best place to start if you don't know what data exist on a topic. The authoritative and comprehensive summary of statistics on the social, political, and economic organization of the United States. Find statistical indicators and use as a guide to sources of more information both in print and online.
Historical Statistics of the United States
Quantitative data on American history. Topics covered include: population, work and welfare, economics, international relations and governance.
International Historical Statistics
The IHS series contains statistical data for the countries of the world from 1750-2010. Data series include population, economic, infrastructure, media, education, etc. Frequency and coverage of data vary by series and country.
ICPSR
Datasets from the social and behavioral sciences and specialized collections of data in education, aging, criminal justice, substance abuse, terrorism, and other fields. Register for a (free, required) Researcher Passport account using your St. Thomas email address (and independent password) to download data sets. Click on "More Info" below for guidance.
To create a Researcher Passport account:
Click the Log In button at upper right, then select the "Sign in with email" option (NOT the blue "Access through your institution" button), then "Set up a new account."

Email Account Validation:
Typically, ICPSR will automatically recognize your institution and validate your account. If you're trying to download data and receive an unexpected alert that you're not from a member institution, even though you are, your account may need to be validated. To request a validation, send an email to icpsr-help@umich.edu.