Everywhere HOAs

February 8, 2026 | Mark Luis Foster

Someone once asked me if I thought HOAs are dead. My answer was that they are sure building a lot of HOAs for no-one to live in. With some 80+% of new construction in the USA being properties located within an HOA, it’s not hard to guess that the proliferation of associations is the driving lifestyle trend these days.

In fact, according to Realtor.com, the resale environment is also growing among properties located within an HOA. In 2025, some 44% of existing home sales were in an HOA, and that’s up from 34% in 2019.

Why the trend? A Yahoo Finance article sums it up:

The rapid increase stems from modern development trends. In the past decade, builders have focused on constructing amenity-filled neighborhoods. Around two-thirds of all new single-family homes built in recent years have had HOAs, and among condos and townhomes, the share is even higher. As original owners of those homes move on and list their homes, today’s buyers find themselves in a more HOA-concentrated market.

At HOALN we’ve estimated the total number of HOAs in the seven-country metro area of Minneapolis – St. Paul to be 4,200 and climbing, with more than 8K in the whole state. But there are variances elsewhere.

The prevalence of HOAs varies by region. They’re most common in Mountain West states that have seen an influx of new construction, like Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado, as well as places like Florida, Hawaii, and Washington, D.C., where condos are common. In more rural areas, they’re comparatively rare.

Of course there are still plenty of detractors and promoters of HOAs, and there are a fair amount of buyers who don’t understand the premise of an HOA when they make the offer and move in. I haven’t seen a survey on this, but I’d venture to guess that many buyers have spent little time examining an HOA’s financials or even reading the governing documents before pulling the buy-it pin. Misunderstandings of homeowner obligations (and rights) and looming special assessments that are missed in the buyer due-diligence process often lead to bad vibes and frustration; so like any transaction the size of a home purchase, the buyer is obliged to do their homework first.

And about those home sales.Is there much difference in sales between HOAs and non-HOAs?

While some high-fee condos are likely pricing out buyers and contributing to slowing sales, in the broad market, HOA versus non-HOA status had little effect on how long a home spent on the market last year, Realtor.com found.

HOAs are indeed becoming harder and harder to avoid in both new construction and resale.

Read the whole Yahoo article HERE.