A Wealth of Problems: How the Housing Bust Widened the Rich-Poor Gap
The gap between the rich and poor in the U.S. was already wide prior to the Great Recession, and the housing bust and foreclosure crisis that followed only made it worse.The gap between the rich and poor in the U.S. was already wide prior to the Great Recession, and the housing bust and foreclosure crisis that followed only made it worse.
Housing Highs & Lows: How the Home Affordability Gap Between the Rich and Poor is Widening
Buying a home with a mortgage got slightly more affordable to start of the year, especially compared to renting. But while mortgage affordability overall has improved somewhat, for low-income Americans looking to buy even a modest home, affordability has actually gotten worse – at the same time as it improved for those earning more.
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.
A Crack in the Code: Why Even Some Tech-Employed Renters Can’t Find Affordable Housing
Just because the average tech renter is doing OK, we shouldn’t think everyone in the field is having an easy time making ends meet.
Continued deterioration in U.S. housing affordability – particularly at the low end of the market and for renters – is bringing to light a number of problems around income growth and social mobility that may have big implications for all Americans going forward.
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.
New Commerce Department Data Usability Project Sheds Light on Zillow Data
At the recent Strata-Hadoop Big Data World Conference in San Jose, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce Bruce Andrews unveiled a collaboration between Zillow and the Commerce Department’s Data Usability Project. The project is part of a new Commerce Department initiative to publish code and data visualizations that combine local, state and federal data with data from private sources like Zillow.
Why Presidential Candidates Aren’t Talking About Housing Affordability (Yet)
Housing affordability has not been a main issue, so far, in this presidential election cycle. There are several good reasons why, but among the easiest potential explanations is this: Candidates have simply not yet really begun campaigning in the states where housing affordability is at its worst.
Pay to Play: The Growing Footprint of Homeowner Association Fees
A steady increase in the share of U.S. homes that require monthly condo, mobile home or homeowner association fees (HOA) has important implications for the affordability of homes nationwide
