The Housing Almanac is an editorially-designed reference for U.S. housing market data — annual sales, median prices, and 30-year fixed mortgage rates from 1963 to today, sourced exclusively from federal and federally-mandated data series.
The Almanac was built around three convictions:
- The historical record is one of the best frames for understanding the present moment. The 2024 housing market makes more sense once you've seen 1981, 2008, and 2021.
- Public data should look like it was made on purpose. Editorial typography, considered color, and an explicit narrative voice are not extras — they are the work.
- Every page should be browseable on its own. The dashboard splits into eight indexable views; the full data table is downloadable; every year and every notable cycle has its own archive page.
What's covered
- Annual U.S. new-home sales (U.S. Census Bureau, 1963 to 2024)
- Annual U.S. existing-home sales (NAR, 1968 to 2024)
- Median sale prices for both new and existing homes
- The 30-year fixed conventional mortgage rate (Freddie Mac PMMS, 1971 to 2024)
- NBER recession dating
- 62 year-by-year archive pages (1963–2024)
- Cycle explainers covering the major U.S. housing recessions and surges
- Coming next: programmatic metro and state pages with FHFA HPI and Zillow ZHVI sourcing
Methodology
All figures are annual averages computed from the underlying federal sources. Mortgage rates are the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey 30-year fixed conventional rate, simple-averaged across the year's weekly observations. Sales figures are the calendar-year total or annual average where reported as such by the source.
Median prices are nominal — not inflation-adjusted — unless explicitly stated otherwise. Where inflation adjustment is made, we use the BLS Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U).
Editorial independence
The Housing Almanac is reader-supported. Some pages link to mortgage products from partners that may pay us a commission if you apply or fund a loan. We never receive compensation for the rates or outcomes you see. We do not provide loan offers, pre-approvals, or rate quotes ourselves. Editorial decisions — including which year archives to publish, which cycles to explain, and how to characterize the current market — are entirely independent of any commercial relationship.
Corrections
If you spot a data error, a misattribution, or a chart that does not match the underlying source, write to the editor at corrections@housingalmanac.com. Corrections are made publicly and noted in the page's footer where appropriate.
The data files
The Almanac's master annual table is open-licensed under CC BY 4.0 via our data table page. The raw federal series themselves are public domain.