When Up Means Down: What Happened with Mortgage Interest Rates After the Fed’s Hike?
Why, when key benchmark interest rates as set by the Federal Reserve rose, did mortgage interest rates fall? The answer is two-fold.
When Up Means Down: What Happened with Mortgage Interest Rates After the Fed’s Hike?
Why, when key benchmark interest rates as set by the Federal Reserve rose, did mortgage interest rates fall? The answer is two-fold.
Dismal Growth in Coal Country Home Values
Coal mining jobs stood at 57,919 in the middle of 2016, down a devastating 61.4 percent from 1990. And home values in coal-mining counties have been stagnant in recent years.
Local Opportunities: Finding Relatively Affordable Housing, Even in Largely Unaffordable Markets
Some of the metros with the best job prospects are also the ones with the least affordable housing, making it difficult for new residents – especially renters – to get a toehold in the housing market. But even within these very expensive metros, pockets of relative affordability do exist at a city level, offering some hope for new residents and would-be job seekers.
Is Your City Building Enough Housing? Weighing Today’s Housing Promises Versus Past Housing Delivery
A lack of new housing supply has been blamed for a raft of housing issues plaguing many large U.S. housing markets, including rapid appreciation, deteriorating affordability (especially at the lower end of the market and for renters) and very limited inventory. In response, mayors’ offices nationwide have formulated plans focused on building new housing and rehabilitating and preserving what housing already exists. But are these plans enough, and are they feasible?
What the Homeownership Rate Really Tells Us About U.S. Housing
A hard half-decade after the bottom of the housing bust, several fundamentals of the U.S. housing market point to a recovery that is nearly complete: Home values in many markets are near or even above pre-recession levels, demand for homes is high and sales are up. But one key piece is missing. The U.S. homeownership rate – at all-time highs just a decade ago – remains stuck today at a 50-year low.
As Rents and Home Values Rise in Many Markets, Is Tech Industry Really to Blame?
There is certainly a reason that many people associate the tech industry with pricey and unaffordable housing. In metropolitan areas with a large share of tech workers, rents and home values are considerably higher. But the reality is that expensive housing often follows in areas where a good share of individuals are earning high wages – whether they work in tech, finance, law, or any number of other industries associated with hefty paychecks.
Boston Strong: What’s Driving Wage and Job Growth in the Nation’s Original Tech Hub
It may be hard to remember, but 30 years ago, America’s technology heartland wasn’t the San Francisco Bay area – it was around Boston Harbor. And decades after the nation’s tech consciousness shifted west, the technology sector still plays a vital role in Eastern Massachusetts.
Social Mobility May Suffer as Income Growth Fails to Keep Pace With Rising Housing Costs
The United States has long cherished its hard-earned reputation as the land of opportunity. But for millions working to ensure their children can move up the socio-economic ladder, rapidly rising housing costs are threatening instead to kick the ladder out from underneath them, limiting their potential social mobility.
How Land-Use Regulation Impacts Inventory, Rents and Roommates
In many American cities, more means more – and not in a particularly good way. Tighter land-use regulation in these cities is associated with more rapidly rising rents, more acute shortages of homes for sale and more adults living with roommates in the face of rising housing costs and fewer housing options.
In Denver, Past Housing Performance Is No Guarantee of Future Housing Returns
Denver’s rapid growth has given rise to increasing concerns over both the availability and affordability of housing in the city itself. In response, the city has developed plans and proposals to try to ensure enough housing while also keeping housing cost burdens manageable. But do the city’s current plans go far enough? Yes and no.
