As World War II came to a close in August 1945, a Gallup poll foreshadowed the postwar housing boom by finding that nearly one in four Americans planned to build their own home. Twenty-three percent of Americans, and even higher percentages of young adults, said they planned to build -- not buy, build -- a new home of their own after the war.
| U.S. adults | 18 to 29 | 30 to 49 | 50 to 64 | 65+ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yes | 23 | 37 | 27 | 16 | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| No | 77 | 63 | 73 | 83 | 94 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gallup, Aug. 10-15, 1945 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Further, the average amount those aspiring to build estimated they would spend, not including the price of the land, was $5,000. Dr. George Gallup reported this would amount to a $40 billion infusion into the U.S. economy. "Even discounting liberally for those whose plans will never materialize, this is a tremendously encouraging note for the U.S. postwar economy," wrote Dr. Gallup in his Sept. 1, 1945, write-up of the poll.
At the time of the poll, many economists were predicting that the decline in government spending once the war ended would spark a severe depression. But this failed to appreciate the magnitude of pent-up consumer demand. Low-interest mortgages and other benefits of the GI Bill aimed at reintegrating U.S. soldiers may have sealed the deal. Americans returned from the war, re-entered the workforce and started families -- triggering a "baby boom." After years of sacrifice and rationing, the demand for single-family houses and the durable goods to fill them skyrocketed, and within a few years, so had the nation's economy.
These data can be found in Gallup Analytics.
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