Million dollar homes

According to a recently released study from Harvard's Joint Center for
Housing Studies, Americans spent $133 billion on home remodeling in
2004. People are also looking for more space or are just increasing the
space in their existing home. New houses now average more than 2,300
square feet in size, up from 1,900 square feet in 1987, according to the
National Association of Home Builders. Homeowners have also upgraded
their existing home at a brisk pace. All those granite countertops,
hardwood kitchen cabinets, inground pools and finished basements have
helped send average values of homes skyward.

According to the Census Bureau, homes that go for more than $1 million
still make up a small slice of the total housing stock, but their percentage
has doubled to more than 1%, according to the Census Bureau.

California leads the nation in the number of single-family 7-digit homes.
The state had a total of 33,107 home sales of $1 million or more in 2004,
65% of the U.S. total and 73.5% more than in 2003. Million-dollar sales
accounted for 5% of all California home purchases in 2004. Other states
on the top 10 list for 7-figure, single-family home sales are (number of
sales for million dollar or above are shown in bracket): Florida (4,698),
New York (2,180), Illinois (1,336), Massachusetts (1,067), Arizona (995),
Maryland (915), Connecticut (795), Washington (696), and Nevada (659).