At Zillow Research, our days are fully consumed with bringing you the best, most interesting and most actionable real estate research around.

But to that end, we also find time to read a variety of reports, news stories and investigations, on any number of issues, from social justice, to economics, to real estate and sports. We read them for education, for entertainment and out of pure curiosity – and each one helps us discover new questions we want to answer and helps identify new trends worth following.

Zillow Research Reading List is a regular roundup of these interesting pieces we come across, with some thoughts about each and how it ties into our existing research and/or has spurred new questions. We’ll post these roundups regularly, and of course will continue to strive to publish research that is as enriching, thought-provoking and useful as these pieces have been to us.

Enjoy!

Do Housing Assistance Programs Improve Long Term Outcomes for Children?

Brian Jacob, Max Kapustin and Jens Ludwig in The Quarterly Journal of Economics

While Zillow has been sounding the warning bells on America’s rental affordability crisis for a few years now, we sometimes take for granted the idea that ensuring access to affordable housing for all should be a national priority. But this paper pushes back against that view, compellingly documenting the quite small differences in high school graduation rates and other childhood outcomes among families who received housing assistance and those who didn’t (but are otherwise identical). While definitely not the last word on this issue, it is a very interesting finding nonetheless.

Builders vs Urban Planners on the Future of Real Estate Development

Alana Semuels in The Atlantic

Now well into its fourth decade, the promise of the idea of New Urbanism – and its focus on sustainable, walkable living – still seems somewhat unfulfilled. While there has been growth in the number of urban development/revitalization projects, car-dependent suburbs are still very much alive and thriving. Supporters of the sustainable urban development movements often point to obstacles in the form of government regulations and policies. But perhaps the problem is demand rather than supply. Has too much been made of the idea that millennials want something different out of housing than their parents did at their age? We are likely to find out soon, as millennials continue to overcome the scars of the recession and start buying homes en masse.

The Landscape of Economic Segregation

Emily Badger in The Washington Post

Rising home prices and rents have created greater pressure for typical households to move farther away from urban job centers in order to find affordable housing. In some markets, there simply aren’t enough homes within reach of the middle class. The result is an increasing degree of economic segregation – with the wealthy increasingly less likely to rub elbows with the poor. But what are the long-term consequences of a nation bifurcated by housing?

How Does Access to Good Charter Schools Impact a Home’s Value?

Scott Imberman, Michael Naretta, and Margaret O’Rourke in The National Bureau of Economic Research

According to the authors of this report, access to good charter schools has no significant impact on a home’s value. Which surprised us. For most parents, a neighborhood’s school district is among the most important considerations in a home search. But on the other hand, housing prices aren’t set in the kinds of perfect markets that so enthrall us economists. Every home is unique, and prices in a given community often take a while to adjust to new developments in the neighborhood (like a Starbucks opening nearby). Perhaps, as word spreads, it just takes a while for the impact of good, nearby charter schools to filter into home prices?

The Return of Jobs to the City Center

Claire Miller in The New York Times

Where the jobs go, millennials tend to follow. Or maybe we’re putting the cart before the horse, and these jobs are just following millennials? Millennials who, by the way, are also increasingly delaying the stereotypical hallmarks of adulthood – marriage, children and a house in the suburbs – seemingly in favor of living with a roommate in the city. Either way, there are definitely some urban neighborhoods that seem poised for the stratosphere, boasting job growth, amenities and opportunities sure to keep the urban versus suburban debate alive and well for years, for younger and older Americans.