As you know, community associations have become increasingly popular because they help protect home values and help meet increased demand for privatization of services as public officials off-load services that were traditionally provided by government, e.g., trash pickup, snow removal, landscaping, street lighting and street and sidewalk maintenance. Below are the most recent industry statistics.
Estimated number of association-governed communities and individual housing units and residents within those communities:
Year |
Communities |
Housing Units |
Residents |
1970 |
10,000 |
701,000 |
2.1 million |
1980 |
36,000 |
3.6 million |
9.6 million |
1990 |
130,000 |
11.6 million |
29.6 million |
2000 |
222,500 |
17.8 million |
45.2 million |
2002 |
240,000 |
19.2 million |
48.0 million |
2004 |
260,000 |
20.8 million |
51.8 million |
2006 |
286,000 |
23.1 million |
57.0 million |
2008 |
300,800 |
24.1 million |
59.5 million |
2010 |
309,600 |
24.8 million |
62.0 million |
2011 |
314,200 |
25.1 million |
62.3 million |
Association-governed communities include homeowners associations, condominiums, cooperatives and other planned communities. Homeowners associations and other planned communities currently account for 52-55% of the totals above, condominiums for 38-42% and cooperatives for 5-7%.
Estimated number of community association managers: 60,000.
Estimated number of community association management companies: 10,000.
Almost two million people serve on community association governing boards, with almost 400,000 more involved as committee members. Assuming the typical board or committee member spends just one hour a week on association business—and for most it’s much more than that—these volunteer leaders dedicate more than 110 million hours of service to their communities every year. Combined, the estimated value of these community association governance services is about $450 million.
An estimated four out of five housing starts since 2000 have been in association-governed communities, including condominiums converted from existing rental units.
The value of the homes in all community associations is estimated at $4 trillion, approximately 20 percent of the value of allU.S.residential real estate.
Estimated annual operating revenue for U.S. community associations is close to $40 billion. Community and condominium association boards also maintain investment accounts of more than $35 billion for the long-term maintenance and replacement of common property, e.g., roads, swimming pools, structures and elevators.
The estimates provided above for associations are derived from U.S. Census publications, the American Housing Survey, IRS Statistics of Income Reports, consultation with CAI professional members and state-specific data from California and Florida and related trade organizations.