Thursday Open Line


The nature of American neighborhoods began to take on a new look this week in 1947. That’s when one of the first planned communities built by a real estate developer opened and began receiving its new residents–Levittown, in New York. Named for William and Alfred Levitt, the town ultimately contained more than 17,000 Cape Cod and ranch houses, snapped up by servicemen returning from World War Two and facing an acute housing shortage. The houses in Levittown had 800 square feet of floor space and sold for under $8,000 dollars. Now, Levittown has a population of about 52,000, with a median home value of almost $376,000. That’s over twice the national median home value of $181,000. You can find more statistics on communities across the country by downloading the Census Bureau’s “dwellr” mobile application at <http://www.census.gov/mobile>.