The Unassuming Economist

On cross-country:

• Housing affordability and responses during times of stress: A preliminary look during the COVID-19 pandemic – Contemporary Economic Policy

On the US:    

• Something Has to Give in the Housing Market. Or Does It? There appears to be no quick reprieve coming for rising prices: “It’s not a bubble, it really is about the fundamentals.” – New York Times
• A growing share of Americans say affordable housing is a major problem where they live – Pew Research Center
• Housing-Market Risks in U.S. Are Clustered Around NYC, Chicago. Attom data rank areas by affordability, level of foreclosures. Outside of California, the West is the least fragile market – Bloomberg 
• Available Homes Shrink More Than 30% in Hottest Housing Markets. It would take less than a week to sell all the inventory in Seattle, and about 9 days for San Jose and Denver at current prices, according to Redfin. – Bloomberg
• The YIMBYs are starting to win a few. Slowly but surely, progressives are realizing that they need to build, build, build – Noahpinion
• Austin’s Mayor Seeks $500 Million Bond to Help Ease Housing Crunch – Bloomberg
• Homes Above $800,000 Drive Bidding Wars in the U.S. Housing Market. Nearly two-thirds of pricey homes had competition in December, while supply remains tight due to low mortgage rates and booming demand. – Bloomberg
• Short term rentals are an opportunity for some, but are impacting affordable housing – NPR
• Blackstone’s new real estate play: the rent-to-buy market. Home Partners believes it has created an alternative path to home ownership. But is it really more like another corporate landlord? – FT
• Cincinnati Agency Buys Nearly 200 Rental Homes, Thwarting Private Investors. City plans to upgrade rental homes and sell to tenants in affordable-housing effort – Wall Street Journal
• A Progressive Real Estate Firm Faces Accusations of Discrimination. Redfin has staked its reputation on making a racist industry more equitable. Critics say it has been denying services to Black homebuyers and sellers. – Bloomberg 
• Mortgage denial rates by race in 2020 – Axios
• Study: 20% of Black mortgage applicants in Ga. rejected – Axios
• Black Mortgage Applicants Denied 84% More Often than White Borrowers – Zillow 
• Rising mortgage rates could slow house price surge – Axios
• To Senator Toomey: The Process of Exiting GSE Conservatorship Is Not So Simple – Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
• New State Rule Would Force Suburbs to Legalize Thousands of New Apartments Near T Stops – StreetsblogMASS
• Fraud and the financial crisis – AEA
• Housing finance: Insights on the new normal – American Enterprise Institute
• Good news for buyers? New-home construction activity increases, amid a surge in building permits. U.S. home builders face a growing backlog of construction projects they haven’t started work on, which should continue to pump supply into the housing market in 2022 – MarketWatch
• Multi-family housing boosts U.S. homebuilding; supply constraints seen unrelenting – Reuters
• Boom in Home Remodeling May Peak in 2022 – Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies

On China

• Slowdown in Chinese town highlights potential pitfalls of property reforms. Homeowners’ struggles demonstrate challenge of cooling sector without damaging wider economy – FT
• China Considers Major Step to Ease Developer Cash Crunch. Regulators mull policy package to ease crisis: person familiar. Government is fine-tuning industry crackdown as economy slows – Bloomberg
• China’s Home Market Slump Persists on All Fronts, Hurting Growth – Bloomberg
• China’s GDP growth slows as Covid restrictions and property woes hit demand. Central bank cuts lending rate as economy expands 4% year on year in fourth quarter – FT
• China’s Economy Is Slowing, a Worrying Sign for the World. Economic output climbed 4 percent in the last quarter of 2021, slowing from the previous quarter. Growth has faltered as home buyers and consumers become cautious. – New York Times
• China’s Spreading Property Debt Crisis Pressures Xi to Ease – Bloomberg
• Xi Reshapes China Property Market Paving Way for State Dominance. Officials seeking to quash speculation, limit financial risk. State-owned developers seen taking over the key industry – Bloomberg
• China Experts Map Out Endgame for Xi’s Revamped Property Sector. State-owned firms seen taking control of real estate market. Transition will be ‘long and painful,’ Bocom’s Hao Hong says – Bloomberg
• How Too Many Boys Skew China’s Economy. The government’s fight to control housing prices and insulate the economy is bound up with some very fundamental human impulses—and decisions made decades ago – Wall Street Journal

On other countries:  

• [Canada] Housing demand in Canada: A novel approach to classifying mortgaged homebuyers – Bank of Canada
• [Canada] We don’t expect an increase in interest rates to have a huge impact on housing supply: CHBA CEO – Bloomberg
• [Canada] House hunters in Canada face tightest market on record. There are so few homes for sale in Canada that people are starting to call it a housing crisis. – Al Jazeera
• [Czech Republic] EU’s Hottest Property Market Fuels Aggressive Czech Rate Hikes – Bloomberg
• [France] Working from home and corporate real estate – VoxEU
• [Germany] Bundesbank warns German lenders of complacency as house prices soar. Credit risks have been ‘underestimated’, vice-president Claudia Buch tells FT – FT
• [Ireland] Rising rents and surging prices trigger ‘collapse’ in home ownership. Housing in Ireland is ‘severely unaffordable’, report by Parliamentary Budget Office says – The Irish Times
• [Italy] The Agglomeration of Urban Amenities: Evidence from Milan Restaurants – NBER
• [New Zealand] New Zealand Home Price Increases Show Signs of Moderating – Market Watch
• [New Zealand] New Zealand’s house prices skyrocketing – Global Property Guide
• [Slovak Republic] Slovak Republic’s house price growth accelerating – Global Property Guide
• [United Kingdom] UK mortgage demand cools amid economic concerns. Would-be homebuyers confound forecasters and turn cautious, BoE survey – FT
• [United Kingdom] The big idea: could fixing housing fix everything else, too? From inequality to pollution, Britain’s housing crisis sits at the root of a surprising range of problems – The Guardian
• [United Kingdom] Mortgage values fall from nutty 2020 high but new homebuyers are still feeling the pain. Surge in mortgages during pandemic suggests house prices will continue to grow for first half of 2022 – at least – The Guardian
• [United Kingdom] UK house prices rise annual 10.0% in November – Reuters
• [South Africa] Rate Hikes Unlikely to Weigh on South Africa Home Buying in 2022 – Bloomberg
• [Taiwan] Taiwan Central Bank Chief Repeats Stance on Rates-Housing Link – Bloomberg