The Unassuming Economist

On cross-country:

• Younger generations and the lost dream of homeownership – VoxEU
• Why skyscrapers are so short – Works in progress

On the US:    

• How credit conditions affect housing prices — lessons from the ’00s. How might credit conditions affect this year’s housing market? A look to the past can offer some clues. – MIT
• The housing boom isn’t over yet, predicts a top analyst who sees a 12% increase this year – AEI
• A Typical U.S. Home Is Now Valued at $320,662 — 20% More Than a Year Ago. Low inventory and unrelenting demand are continuing to fuel price growth in the American real estate market. – Bloomberg
• Volatility of lumber prices hits high not seen since end of World War II — why home buyers should be concerned. Fluctuations in the prices of building supplies are complicating construction of new homes – Market Watch
• Transcript: Inventory Vanishing and Bidding Wars Exploding in Crazy U.S. Housing Market – Bloomberg 
• A Typical U.S. Home Is Now Valued at $320,662 — 20% More Than a Year Ago. Low inventory and unrelenting demand are continuing to fuel price growth in the American real estate market.  – Bloomberg 
• Real Estate Is Emerging as a Hedge Against Roaring Inflation. Those seeking alternative investments from stocks and bonds may turn to the housing market, but that strategy still presents risks. – Bloomberg
• Illinois Homeowners Can Now Remove Racist Clauses From Their Property Deeds. With a new law, Illinois joins over a dozen states that have made it easier to remove racial restrictive covenants, which were used to bar people of certain races from buying homes. – New York Times
• New Report Shows a Surging Rental Market, Starkly Divided by Race and Renter Incomes – Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
• The US home construction boom is excluding a big group of Americans – Quartz
• Kevin Erdmann was right – Econlib
• How subprime lending emerged in minority neighbourhoods – London School of Economics
• Florida’s West Coast Cities Top WSJ/Realtor.com’s Housing Index. Naples led the fourth-quarter rankings, as the Sunshine State attracted home buyers looking to work remotely near the beach – Wall Street Journal and Realtor
• Zillow’s Open Market Home Price Appreciation Forecasting Methodology – Zillow
• What It Will Take to Sustainably Increase the Homeownership Rate? – Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
• With Housing Prices Spiking Everywhere, Where Is It Cheaper To Rent vs. Buy? – Realtor

On China

• Beijing Will Save Housing Projects, but Not Necessarily Developers. To head off a deepening housing downturn, Beijing is backpedaling a bit on tough leverage rules. That might not be enough to save weaker developers. – Wall Street Journal
• China cuts mortgage lending rate for first time in two years. Beijing introduces measure amid property sector liquidity crisis and consumption slowdown – FT
• China property sector could see “significant” policy easing -BNP Paribas – Reuters
• China Weighs Breaking Up Evergrande to Contain Property Crisis – Bloomberg
• China’s Private Cities – Marginal Revolution

On other countries:  

• [Canada] This Red-Hot Housing Market Is Betting Interest Rates Will Never Rise. Canadian homeowners’ gamble could backfire if rates increase more than one percentage point. – Bloomberg
• [Ireland] Why Ireland’s housing bubble burst – Works in progress
• [Netherlands] The Netherlands’ house price rises accelerating – Global Property Guide
• [New Zealand] New Zealand’s bipartisan housing reforms offer a model to other countries – Brookings
• [Taiwan] Taiwan’s housing market remains buoyant – Global Property Guide
• [United Kingdom] U.K. Property Sellers Keep Upper Hand as Supply Squeeze Persists – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] What’s next for the housing market in 2022? – Lloyds Banking Group
• [United Kingdom] The plight of the UK’s first-time buyers. The immediate pressures of the pandemic may have eased, but prospective homeowners must now contend with record prices and a looming cost of living crisis – FT