The Unassuming Economist

On cross-country:

• How to Solve the Global Housing Crisis: Liberate Supply Not Subsidise Demand – The Times of Israel

Working papers and conferences:

• What About the Close Calls? In the Mortgage Market, the Behavior of One Group of Loan Applicants Is Particularly Enlightening – Philadelphia Fed
• What Is My Home Worth? – Philadelphia Fed
• Property Tax PassThrough to Renters A Quasi-Experimental Approach – Philadelphia Fed
• Real-time house price model shows U.S. housing market firming – Dallas Fed
• SI 2026 Real Estate – NBER
• Building costs aren’t to blame for high home prices. The link between construction costs and real estate prices has weakened in recent decades, finds research from UChicago Booth – University of Chicago
• Pricing Residential Mortgage Credit Risk in the Post-GFC Era – NBER
• Mapping Crowding, Tenure, Rents and Segregation in the Neighborhoods of Major European Cities around 1900 and Today – International Journal of Urban and Regional Research

On China:

• Real Estate Crash Weighs on China’s Economic Growth. Falling apartment prices have erased the savings of millions of Chinese households, but exports lifted the economy to 5 percent growth last year. – New York Times

On Australia and New Zealand:

• [Australia] Improving productivity growth and housing affordability would support Australia’s high living standards – OECD
• [Australia] OECD calls on Australia to raise GST and increase affordable housing amid budget deficit. Survey by organisation, which is led by former Liberal senator Mathias Cormann, says economy is ‘now normalising’, after post-pandemic struggle – The Guardian

On other countries:  

• [Canada] Canadian Housing Market in Winter Freeze as Prices, Sales Decline – Bloomberg
• [Canada] Out of Reach: Unlocking Canada’s housing affordability crisis. Many Canadian housing markets face a troubling paradox: homes remain unaffordable for buyers even as construction and land costs have receded, leaving many — especially younger Canadians — feeling that homeownership is out of reach. – Senate of Canada
• [Denmark] Denmark should continue to improve public finances, housing affordability and family policies to sustain growth and living standards – OECD
• [Korea]  Seoul Housing Rally Gathers Pace, Deepening BOK’s Policy Dilemma – Bloomberg
• [Nigeria] Lagos Town Demolitions Leave Thousands of Nigerians Homeless – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] What’s next for the UK housing market in 2026? – Lloyds Banking Group
• [United Kingdom] UK lenders cut mortgage rates in race for new year buyers. December fall in base rate and relatively benign Budget triggers swath of cheaper deals – FT
• [United Kingdom] House prices jump across Britain as sentiment rebounds after Budget. January increase reverses sharp contractions in previous months – FT
• [United Kingdom] U.K. House Prices See Record January Jump as Post-Budget Uncertainty Fades. The 2.8% gain represents the largest January increase in the 25-year history of Rightmove’s House Price Index – Wall Street Journal
• [United Kingdom] Inner London house prices fall at fastest rate since global financial crisis. Sharp annual decline in most expensive boroughs underscores impact of Budget uncertainty – FT
• [United Kingdom] London House Building Collapses 84% in a Decade as Sales Plunge – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] London House Prices End Longest Losing Streak Since 2009 – Bloomberg