An estimate of the volume of farm dwelling construction in Iowa

Economic research in farm housing can be greatly facilitated by the development of a low-cost method of making reliable annual estimates of farm construction volume and by the accumulation of time series over a period long enough to reveal fluctuations in the type and volume of construction. Methods of estimating residential construction volume in urban areas have been used long enough to yield much useful statistical data, although refinements continue to be made. However, there have been few estimates of farm dwelling construction volume.2 The greater emphasis on urban housing has probably resulted from the greater volume of urban construction compared with farm construction. Also, statistics may be more easily secured from urban centers where building permits are used and where many large-volume builders can provide data. Geographic decentralization of farm dwelling construction, the general absence of building permits, and the probably small volume of construction per builder have made the collection of farm data expensive