Two neighboring Arizona counties, both part of the burgeoning Phoenix area, lead the nation in housing growth in the 12-month period ended June 30, 2007, according to the latest figures from the Census Bureau.

During the same time, unfortunately, two Louisiana parishes, lost more than half their housing units, the government's statisticians also reported.

Arizona's Pinal County, Ariz., had the highest growth rate of housing units of any county in the nation, while its next-door neighbor, Maricopa County, was the biggest numerical gainer.

The number of dwelling units in Pinal County increased by 16.6 percent, or more than 18,000 units during the July 1-June 30 period. Maricopa gained 43,000 units. A housing unit can be a house, an apartment or even a single room intended as separate living quarters with direct access from outside.

Flagler County, Fla., north of Daytona Beach on the Atlantic coast, had the highest growth rate of housing stock the previous two years but slipped to fifth place in 2006. Two other Florida counties among the top five: Second-place Sumter (west of Orlando) and fourth-place Lee (Ft. Myers). Kendall, Ill., near Chicago, was third.

In terms of sheer numbers, Maricopa was followed in numerical growth by Harris County (Houston), Tex., which added 39,000 units; Clark County (Las Vegas), Nev., with 38,000; Riverside County (east of Los Angeles), Calif., with 33,000; and Lee County (Fort Myers), Fla., with 28,000.

Among all counties and county equivalents, Orleans Parish, La., experienced the largest numerical decline in housing units in the 12-month study period, losing 107,000 dwellings, or slightly more than half its housing stock. Neighboring St. Bernard Parish had the highest rate of decline, losing 76.2 percent of its homes. Both parishes suffered major damage from Hurricane Katrina.

At the state level, four of the five states with the most rapid housing growth are in the West: Nevada, 4.5 percent; Arizona, 3.5 percent; Idaho, 3.4 percent; Florida, 3.3 percent, and Utah, 3.1 percent). Nevada''s rate of growth was more than triple the national average.

The South dominated the states adding the greatest number of housing units. Florida gained 273,000 homes during the period to lead all states, followed by Texas (198,000), California (181,000), Georgia (101,000) and North Carolina (89,000).

Louisiana was the only state to experience a decline, with the number of housing units falling by 110,000, or 5.7 percent.

The United States had an estimated 126.3 million housing units as of June 30, 2006, representing an increase of 1.8 million, or 1.4 percent, since July 1, 2005.

Census also reported these interesting figures recently:

  • The nation's home ownership rate has increased since 2000, with more than two-thirds of all occupied homes (67.3 percent) now currently owned by the occupant. This compares to 66.2 percent in 2000.

  • The state with the highest ownership rates of ownership was Minnesota (76.3). The lowest was New York (55.6 percent) Among the 20 largest metropolitan areas, Minneapolis-St. Paul shared the top spot with Detroit (75.2 and 74.6 percent, respectively), with St. Louis ranking third (73.1 percent).

  • California and Hawaii were the two states with the highest median value of owner-occupied homes (more than $500,000). California cities Newport Beach and Santa Barbara had median home values of about $1 million.

  • More than half of California's home owners with a mortgage spent 30 percent or more of their household incomes on mortgage payments and other owner costs. Comparatively, less than a quarter of North Dakota homeowners spent 30 percent or more of their household incomes on mortgage payments other owner costs.