The first U.S. housing law was enacted, regulating tenement housing in New York City.

People typically paid cash for a new home, which averaged 700 to 1,200 square feet and cost less than $5,000. There were approximately 16 million occupied housing units in the United States. The median family income was $490 per year.

At the height of the Great Depression, the United States had 93,000 total housing starts.

The National Housing Act created the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) to undertake a nationwide system of home loan insurance.

President Roosevelt created the National Housing Agency to unify the many housing agencies, including the Federal Public Housing Authority, the Federal Home Loan Bank Administration and the FHA.

The homeownership rate in the U.S. was 55 percent and Americans occupied 43 million units. The FHA mortgage rate was 4.25%. The average home was 1,000 square feet or less, slightly smaller than it had been 50 years earlier, and cost about $11,000.

The Housing and Urban Development Act created a separate cabinet-level Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The prime rate held steady through the 50s and early 60s. In 1965, it was 4.54%, only slightly higher than 15 years earlier. During this period, housing starts also hovered around 1.5 million per year. In 1965, there were 1.47 million total housing starts.

Fannie Mae became a private shareholder-owned corporation and its authority was broadened so it could purchase conventional mortgages.

Centex Corporation (CTX), KB Home (KBH) and Standard-Pacific (SPF) became publicly traded companies.

Freddie Mac was created to establish a market for mortgage securities backed by conventional home loans.

Ryland Group (RYL) became a publicly traded company.

Annual housing starts reached 2.34 million, the highest level ever recorded. The prime rate was 5.25%. It would more than double just two years later. Lennar (LEN) and M.D.C. Holdings (MDC) became publicly traded companies.

The prime rate increased 60 percent from Aug. 1 to Oct. 27, and the Federal Reserve imposed a restrictive monetary policy to slow inflation.

The median price of a new single-family home reached a record high of $68,800. Single-family housing starts fell to below one million, while total housing starts were about 1.3 million.

The prime rate reached 18.87%, the highest level recorded between 1949 and 2000.

Annual single-family housing starts fell to 662,600. Just five years earlier, single-family housing starts reached 1.4 million.

Annual single-family housing starts jumped to 1.08 million while total housing starts reached 1.75 million. Pulte Homes (PHM) became a publicly traded company. The prime rate fell just two points from 1982, to 12.04%.

Toll Brothers, Inc. (TOL) and Meritage (MTH) became publicly traded companies. Annual housing starts reached their second-highest to date, at 1.8 million total starts.

The homebuilding industry felt a major impact of the collapse of the Savings and Loan Industry in the years between 1985 and 1989. S&Ls financed two-thirds of new home construction in the late 1980s. Between 1986 and 1989, total housing starts fell from 1.8 million to less than 1.4 million.

Adjustable Rate Mortgages gained popularity as housing prices rose.

Freddie Mac stock began trading publicly and the company's charter was modified to provide for shareholder-elected board members.

The homeownership rate in the U.S. was 64 percent. Annual single-family housing starts were 894,900. The 10 largest builders had an aggregated market share of 5 percent.

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell below 10 percent for the first time in more than a decade. Annual housing starts decreased from 1.2 million to about 1 million.

Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (HOV) and D.R. Horton, Inc. (DHI) become publicly traded companies.

Beazer Homes USA (BZH) became a publicly traded company.

Annual single-family housing starts reached more than one million and total housing starts hit 1.35 million. The prime rate was 8.83%. That year, housing starts began a steady upward trend, increasing every year, except 2000, through the present time.

New home sales growth reached its highest rate ever at 38.2 percent. Total new housing starts totaled 1.6 million.

There were 107 million occupied housing units in the U.S. Annual housing starts fell slightly to 1.57 million from 1.6 million in 1998, while the prime rate rose from 8% to 9.23%.

The prime rate fell from 9.23% to 6.91%. Total housing starts rose slightly to 1.6 million.

The housing market ended the year with the fastest pace since the mid-1980s at 1.8 million total starts. The prime rate was 4.67% -- its lowest since the mid-1960s. The total market for U.S. residential construction was $440 billion. The 10 largest builders had an aggregated market share of about 25 percent. WCI Communities (WCI) became a publicly traded company.