Two decades ago "condo" was at best an unknown term and at worst a four-letter word in most everywhere but New York, South Florida and a few other select markets.

That's changed. And how.

Today, a record 42 million Americans live in condominium, cooperative and homeowners associations, according to new estimates compiled by the Community Associations Institute, representing about 16% of the total U.S. housing market.

There are 5.1 million condominium units in the United States, with thousands more under construction in places most wouldn't expect. In 1970, there were only 85,000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

"We've seen tremendous growth as far as numbers," said Jim Comin, president of Knappes Miller Management of Bellevue, Wash., which provides management and financial services for condominiums and community associations throughout Washington. "We have 110 associations as clients; seven years ago we had 30."

Nationally, the number of community associations has burgeoned from 10,000 in 1970 to an estimated 205,000 today, governed by more than a million volunteer board and committee members.

This is no sleepy market, either. CAI estimates the resale value of all community association units at more than $1.7 trillion, more than the annual federal budget.

While planned community units make up the bulk of community associations, almost a third, or 5.1 million units, are comprised of condominiums.

And CAI says that number is going to continue to grow.

With more than 50 percent of new development in large metropolitan areas using a community association format, CAI forecasts continued growth of 6,000 to 8,000 additional community associations each year.

"Most are still senior oriented communities, but a growing segment is among those who still want to take advantage of the mortgage interest deduction and own a home, but don't want to buy a single-family home, because prices there are continuing to climb," said Donna Reichle, a spokesman at CAI. "People can have a home they own with amenities they couldn't afford -- bike trails, gyms, a pool and the whole social aspect of living in a condominium."

Condo purchases among younger buyers is largely driven by another factor related to cost -- those who want to live closer in to urban areas without paying the higher costs. This accounts for a large part of the younger buyers.

"People are getting tired of sitting in traffic, so this is a viable option for those who can't afford the $500,000 home close in," Reichle said. "And a fair number of younger buyers are finding they have less and less free time than ever before, especially these dual income families, so they want to maximize their free time, not spend it mowing the yard."

Comin said that's exactly what's driving the condo market in the Pacific Northwest, around cities like Seattle and Bellevue.

"It's a lot less demographics and a lot more geography -- there's just a lack of land in proximity to cities, and a builders can't build homes close in that people can afford," he said. "Condos are about half the price of a (single-family) home."

In fact, a lot of the growth in the condo market does correspond to urban growth areas, statistics show. Las Vegas, Houston, Seattle, Atlanta, Raleigh, N.C., and metro areas all up and down the West Coast have seen condominiums springing up.

According to the Census Bureau, the states with the most number of existing condos are both destination vacation states like Florida, Hawaii and Colorado, as well as Texas, Arizona, California, Illinois, Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, Maryland and Delware -- all boasting 100,000 or more condo units.

The Census Bureau also notes that the average size of a houshold in condos is smaller than that of single-family dwellings -- 1.9 family members on average for condos compared to 2.6 on average.

"A lot of the acceptance of condos has come with the passage of time," Comin said. "When I was working on developing one around Seattle about 22 years ago, people didn't even know what we were talking about.

"Now condo is a household word," Comin said. "There's still a stigma to some degree associated with the word, but that's changing."

Published: September 11, 1998

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