What We Learned About Housing Over the Past Year

It's been a dynamic year for housing, with affordability continuing to squeeze renters in particular -- and policy changes in Washington, D.C., raising questions about implications for homeowners. Zillow Research explored those and other issues -- from climate change to foreign buyers to home-buying tips. Here's a roundup.

The housing market has come a long way from the bust of the late '00s, when people learned hard, sometimes disastrous lessons about home value and equity and how close to disaster a housing bubble can bring the entire economy. Since then, the market -- and homeowners -- have tread through debilitating negative equity, increasing home value gains in most markets, and investment purchases from foreign home buyers.

In the wake of the housing market rebound, affordability has become an increasing problem. The inventory of homes for sale is small and shrinking, with homeowners and builders offering fewer units than they used to. People who are historically hurt by a housing crunch -- low-income households and minorities -- are feeling the squeeze, and for those on the economic bottom rung, it often means a fall into homelessness.

Zillow Research explored these issues and more over the past year. Here are some highlights:

Renter Life

The typical renter spends 29.1 percent of her income on rent, up from 25.8 percent historically. Resulting concerns about affordability laid the framework for much of Zillow Research's rental analyses over the past year.

Tax Reform & Policy

Changes in Washington, D.C., have raised a lot of questions regarding homeownership, from the implications of tax reform to the effect of changes to immigration policy.

Inequality

Homeownership has long been divided along race and economic lines. In some ways, the housing bust only deepened the divide.

Affordability & Homelessness

When people cannot afford housing, their health suffers -- and, sometimes, they become homeless. Zillow Research documented the correlation between rising rents and the growing homeless population -- and documented how commonplace housing insecurity has become.

Climate & Environment

Following the previous year's look at how many homes would be underwater if the seas rose 6 feet over the next century, as some experts predict it will, Zillow Research examined the breakout of those areas by home value. We also delved into the housing implications of recent wildfires and floods.

Home Buying (and Selling) Research You Can Use

As the largest, most-trusted and vibrant home-related marketplace in the world, Zillow has a lot of data that can be used to help people decide when and how to buy and sell homes.

Foreign Buyers

Some governments have tried to slow the influx of foreign home buyers, fearing they're driving up prices. Zillow Research looked at the issue through a U.S. lens.