Nearly Two-Thirds of Americans Live Far From Healthy Food, Some by Choice and Some Not
For many people, using a car to reach healthy food stores is a lifestyle choice. But 20 percent of the country’s non-rural population – or 47.3 million people – have both low incomes and low access to fresh food. Of the households living in food deserts, 7.9 percent don’t have access to a vehicle and must rely on public transportation or walking to reach an area with healthy food.
Movin’ On Up: How Much More Will a Larger Home Cost per Month?
Growing families and households looking for more space this home-shopping season probably already anticipate paying more each month for that larger home. But just how much their monthly mortgage payments rise depends largely on where they’re looking to live and how much more space they want.
A Picture’s Worth: How Housing Affordability Changes Across Racial Communities
Nationwide and in many metro markets, rent in black and Hispanic communities consumes a much larger share of household income than in white communities, widening the great divide that already exists between white America and communities of color.
On Unequal Footing: How Housing Affordability Changes Across Racial Communities
Nationwide and in many metro markets, rent in black and Hispanic communities consumes a much larger share of household income than in white communities, widening the great divide that already exists between white America and communities of color.
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.
February 2017 Market Report: Inventory Still Low as Home Shopping Season Begins
Median U.S. home values rose 6.9 percent in February compared to a year ago, the 55th consecutive month of annual home value growth and the 18th month in a row in which annual appreciation exceeded 5 percent, according to the February Zillow Real Estate Market Report.
Healthy Housing: Where Higher Rents Are Correlated With Worse Health
There is a strong correlation nationwide between communities with higher median rents and a larger proportion of local residents in poor health – even when incomes in those communities are similar.
A Picture’s Worth: Where to Maximize Take-Home Pay and Job Opportunities
Where we live has an enormous influence on how we balance the competing demands of living, working and playing. We all (well, most of us) need to work, and communities with stronger labor markets widen our options. We all need a place to live, too, but housing is more costly in some places than in others. And our capacity for play comes out of everything left over from the fruits of our labor after taxes and housing costs – the price we pay to live in a civilized society.
Subdued new home construction activity in recent years is pushing up the price and age of those homes that do sell, and contributing to slower depreciation in value among aging homes that otherwise would become more affordable. As a result, those homes that are affordable for lower-income, renter households are increasingly older and potentially a lot more hazardous.
No Construction: Why Yesterday’s Luxury Home Remains Today’s Luxury Home
Reversing a trend from prior decades, homes built when the housing bubble first started to inflate and through the height of the housing boom have held their value better than older, existing homes over the same period. But a lack of new construction in more recent years means those homes that were new a decade ago still remain “new” relative to other existing homes, and are not depreciating in value fast enough to replenish the quickly dwindling supply of livable, but older, more-affordable homes.
