The Unassuming Economist

On cross-country:

• The global housing affordability crisis – Axios
• European banks set for slowest mortgage lending growth in decade. Record interest rates have sent a chill through the market – FT

Working papers and conferences:

• House price responses to monetary policy surprises: evidence from US listings data – BIS
• Insurers Monitor Shocks to Collateral: Micro Evidence from Mortgage-backed Securities – CEPR
• Racial Differences in the Total Rate of Return on Owner-Occupied Housing – NBER
• The Impact of Real Estate Agents’ Expertise on House Prices and TOM – SSRN
• Upzoning with Strings Attached: Evidence from Seattle’s Affordable Housing Mandate – SSRN

On the US—developments on house prices, rent, permits and mortgage:    

• Refinancing Activity Jumped in August as Mortgage Rates Declined – NAHB
• The best tool to address the housing crisis is sitting within Fannie Mae. Make it easier to get a mortgage. – Washington Post
• Are Mortgage Rates Dropping?: Explaining What’s Happening to Interest Rates in 2024 – Redfin
• National Housing Survey. Mortgage Rate Optimism Spikes, but Homebuying Pessimism Persists – Fannie Mae
• Home Purchase Sentiment Improves Slightly as Mortgage Rates Fall in August – Realtor.com
• How to fix the housing market. High prices usually boost supply, but not in housing. What’s wrong? – FT
• NYC’s rules one year later: Higher prices for travelers, no housing impact – Airbnb  
• Housing market shift: This interactive map shows where sellers—or buyers—have more power. Zillow’s Market Heat Index shows whether a metro-area housing market is a buyer’s or seller’s market. – Fast Company
• House Price Weekend: Case-Shiller: National House Price Index Up 5.4% year-over-year in June. FHFA House Price Index Declined Slightly month-over-month in June – Calculated Risk
• August 2024 Monthly Housing Market Trends Report – Realtor.com
• New Home Sales Increased to 739,000 Annual Rate in July – Calculated Risk
• 1st Look at Local Housing Markets in August. Early Reports Suggest First YoY Sales Increase in 3 Years – Calculated Risk
• Event: Reforming Land Use Regulation to Encourage Housing Supply on October 1. A conversation at the Minneapolis Fed on changes made and lessons learned in designing policies that influence housing production – Minneapolis Fed
• A New York oasis lies in path of city’s push to build housing – Reuters
• August 2024 Monthly Housing Market Trends Report – Realtor.com
• New Review Spotlights the Unintended Consequences of Rent Control – NAHB
• Second Home Areas Gaining Home Building Market Share – NAHB
• ICE Mortgage Monitor: House Price Growth Slows, Inventory Surges in Florida and Texas – NAHB
• US Home Price Insights – September 2024 – CoreLogic
• Asking Rents Mostly Unchanged Year-over-year – Calculated Risk
• America’s Hottest Housing Market Has Ranked No. 1 a Record 29 Times – Realtor.com
• Rent, utilities rose faster than home values for first time in a decade. New data from the 2023 American Community Survey also showed that nearly half of renters’ households spent more than 30 percent of their income on housing. – Washington Post 
• Homebuyers Hit by Price Surge, Supply Crunch Rock 2024 Election. Harris proposes 3 million units to ease housing shortage. Trump plans to open up federal lands for housing development – Bloomberg
• US house prices are forecast to rise more than 4% next year – Goldman Sachs
• Housing is the main inflation problem – Axios
• The Role of Housing in U.S. Inflation – The White House  

On the US—other developments:    

• Make homes affordable again. The unreachable American dream of ownership could be a decisive issue in the presidential contest – FT
• What Will It Take to Make Housing More Affordable? Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris is campaigning on a proposal to make housing more affordable by providing down payment assistance for first-time home buyers and encouraging construction of new housing. – Yale
• The American Dream Without a House? Believe It. As housing costs soar, younger adults are trying to reimagine prosperity — without the white picket fence. – New York Times
• How to Break—and Fix—Housing Markets. Housing prices are too high. Harris will push them higher. – Wall Street Journal
• Here’s What Harris and Trump Have Proposed to Help the Housing Crisis – Time
• The government cannot solve America’s housing crisis – The Hill  
• How Americans Voted Their Way Into a Housing Crisis. A new book from Jerusalem Demsas explores how local elections, community meetings and other democratic structures brought on a national shortage of affordable homes. – Bloomberg
• How Not to Make Housing Affordable. Kamala Harris could learn from New York City’s failed example. – Wall Street Journal
• The American Dream Without a House? Believe It.  As housing costs soar, younger adults are trying to reimagine prosperity — without the white picket fence. – New York Times  
• Housing Markets in California, New Jersey and Illinois Still have Elevated Risk of Downturns in Second Quarter of 2024 – ATTOM
• Top 10 Most Vulnerable U.S. Housing Markets in Q2 2024 – ATTOM
• There Was a Housing Bubble in Atlanta Prior to the Crash – CEPR
• The Week in Review. Week of Sept 2 — Jobs for humans and robots – Home Economics
• Affordability Challenges and the Composition of Middle-Income Renters – Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
• How buyers, sellers and agents are navigating the real estate shake-up. New rules on agent commissions formally kicked in last month but have already been having an effect on the ground. – Washington Post
• Home Buyers Are Looking for Amenity Loaded Kitchens and Bathrooms – NAHB
• Rising Homeownership Rate for Multigenerational Households – NAHB

On China:

• Will China’s latest urbanization push work? – Peterson Institute
• China has the savings to deal with property crisis, with no global spillover: economist. S&P Global Ratings global chief economist Paul Gruenwald says China is under no external or market pressure to deal with the property market – South China Morning Post
• China’s Unworkable Housing Rescue Math Is Prolonging Crisis. Local cities have made little headway since big rescue in May. Buying unsold homes will further stress local government debt – Bloomberg

On Australia and New Zealand

• [Australia] Meet the Viral Housing Activist Running for Australian Senate. Jordie van den Lamb, better known by social media handle “purplepingers,” has warmed the hearts of renters worldwide with his uncompromisingly deadpan war on landlords. Now he’s taking the fight to their Australian headquarters, Parliament House. – Jacobin
• [New Zealand] Lower interest rates may take time to ripple through the housing market – CoreLogic
• [New Zealand] New Zealand Housing Construction Slump Highlights Recession Risk – Bloomberg

On other countries:  

• [Canada] Rate cuts have yet to pull Canada’s housing markets out of their slump – RBC
• [Denmark] Denmark’s Residential Property Market Analysis 2024 – Global Property Guide
• [Hong Kong] Hong Kong targets tenants with luxury cars over misuse of social housing. Chinese territory under pressure from Beijing to ensure affordable homes are allocated to those who need them – FT
• [Hong Kong] Devil in the details in Hong Kong’s efforts to raise housing game. While a design guide and community living rooms are encouraging steps, government should adopt a people-centric approach across the board – South China Morning Post
• [Ireland] Housing in Ireland is broken – New York Times
• [Netherlands] The Netherlands’ Rent Control Disaster. The Dutch government’s radical expansion of rent control is displacing tenants and aggravating a preexisting housing shortage. – Reason
• [Portugal] Rich Americans flock to Portugal’s Algarve, sparking home sales frenzy. Property prices have risen over 30 per cent in the past year, driven by a surge in US buyers seeking a new lifestyle – South China Morning Post
• [Singapore] Singapore Will ‘Act Decisively’ on More Housing Curbs If Needed – Bloomberg
• [Sweden] Swedes More Upbeat on Housing Prices as Rate Cuts Provide Relief – Bloomberg
• [Taiwan] Why Taiwan is struggling to curb its tech-fuelled housing boom. Housing has risen to the top of Taiwan’s policy agenda, but differences between the government and central bank are slowing progress – South China Morning Post
• [United Arab Emirates] Dubai Family Bets on Luxury Property Boom With $1 Billion Towers. Homes at Sankari Properties’ project start at $11 million. Dubai’s high-end market not seeing any saturation: CEO – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] UK House Prices Near Record After BOE Rate Cut, Halifax Says. Prices rise 0.3% in August, the second straight increase. Data add to optimism over stronger autumn for housing market – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] UK apartment prices underperform rest of market since 2019. Flexible working and concerns over cladding drive buyers towards other property types – FT
• [United Kingdom] UK Housing Market Gains Momentum After BOE Rate Cut, RICS Says – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] The Urgent Need to Build More Homes – Tony Blair Institute for Global Change