For more than a century, American children have waited eagerly for Santa to deliver their presents on Christmas Eve. And of course, Santa’s preferred ingress for just as long has been the chimney. But according to this chart from Jed Kolko, Chief Economist with the real estate site Trulia, Santa’s going to to have to find a new way to deliver toys pretty soon:
As you can see, the number of new homes being built with chimneys is negligible. Even when homes are being built with fireplaces, chimneys are an obsolete relic. According to Kolko, “Fireplaces in newer homes often vent without a chimney or don’t need to vent at all. In fact, the metros with the most fireplaces aren’t the metros with the most chimneys.”
So which metro-areas will welcome Santa most often with his most favorite means of entry? According to Trulia, Buffalo, NY; Philadelphia, PA; and Dayton, OH are the cities with real estate listings most often mentioning chimneys.