On cross-country:
- Global house prices close to bottoming out, BIS stats show – Central Banking
- BIS residential property price statistics, Q3 2023 – BIS
- Where are Europe’s most expensive cities for renters? – The Economist
Working papers and conferences:
- Why we need a green land value tax and how to design it – VoxEU
- Mortgage Borrowing Limits and House Prices: Evidence from a Policy Change in Ireland – SSRN
- Fifty Shades of the US States: News Media Coverage and Predictability of House Prices – SSRN
- Does Affordability Status Matter in Who Wants Multifamily Housing in their Backyard? – SSRN
- The Redistribution of Housing Wealth Caused by Rent Control – SSRN
On the US—developments on house prices, rent, permits and mortgage:
- The Housing Market Still Has Hot Spots. 10 Places Where Prices Are Soaring. – Barron’s
- 3rd Look at Local Housing Markets in January; California Home Sales Up 5.9% YoY in January – Calculated Risk
- New Construction Activity Falls in January, Led by Multi-family – Realtor.com
- Single Family Built-for-Rent Almost Doubled Since 2020. Quarterly Housing Starts and Completions by Purpose and Design – Calculated Risk
- Rents Are Cooling, but Not Everywhere – Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies
- Mortgage Lender Sentiment Survey – Fannie Mae
On the US—other developments:
- Opportunity Zone Housing Markets Still Tracking Along with Broader U.S. Housing Market – Los Angeles Times
- The hottest trend in U.S. cities? Changing zoning rules to allow more housing – NPR
- US unions target the housing affordability crisis as their ‘biggest issue’. Organized labor across the country is now setting its sights on housing costs as rents and mortgages continue to soar – The Guardian
- Realtors Are in Crisis—and Home Buyers Could Be the Winners. A wave of lawsuits over fees paid to agents has put the giant trade association on the defense; ‘it got arrogant’ – Wall Street Journal
- Berkeley’s Upzoning Would Be Among Nation’s Largest. A proposal to end exclusionary zoning would allow for 100,000 more homes in Berkeley’s neighborhoods. – The Discourse Lounge
- Investor home purchases halved since the height of the pandemic housing boom. Investors purchased 50% fewer homes in Q4 2023 compared to Q4 2021, according to the latest Redfin data. – Fast Company
- Did Wall Street kill the American Dream of homeownership? It depends on where you live – Fortune
- The Great Compression. Thanks to soaring housing prices, the era of the 400-square-foot subdivision house is upon us. – New York Times
- The high cost of promoting homeownership. It’s individually rational, but collectively dysfunctional – Slow Boring
- New Single-Family Home Size Moves Lower – NAHB
- Good Times, Bad Times: Eviction Edition. Plus: Voters in Massachusetts reject state-mandated upzonings, Florida localities rebel against a surprisingly effective YIMBY reform, and lawsuits target missing middle housing in Virginia. – Reason
On China:
- China seen cutting mortgage reference rate for first time since June – Reuters
- China cuts mortgage-linked lending rate by record amount to aid property market. Five-year loan prime rate reduction unlikely to offer imminent relief to flagging home sales, analysts say – FT
- China’s Property Crisis: Inside a Ghost Town of Abandoned Mansions – Wall Street Journal
On other countries:
- [Canada] Trudeau’s welcome mat for immigrants wears thin amid Canada housing crunch – Reuters
- [France] Macron has a big housing headache. Olympics are making it worse. The French government has made tackling the housing crisis a priority in an attempt to improve living conditions for the middle class. – Politico
- [Germany] German house prices are in freefall – Global Property Guide
- [Israel] How Israel turned homeowners into YIMBYs. Homeowners are often the biggest opponents of building new homes. An Israeli reform reversed this by making homeowners the main beneficiaries of development. – Work in Progress
- [Italy] Italy’s sluggish housing market – Global Property Guide
- [Ireland] Mortgage holders paying up to €7,292 in extra charges per year by not switching. Online broker doddl.ie has urged mortgage holders to shop around for better rates – The Irish Times
- [Ireland] Ireland’s Biggest Private Residential Landlord Avoids Investor Takeover. Irish Residential key to country resolving its housing crisis. Vision Capital Corp. had tried to overthrow the board – Bloomberg
- [Ireland] Governments used to boast about higher house prices – not anymore. Increasing property values were once seen as reflective of a strong economy and therefore trumpeted by incumbent administrations – The Irish Times
- [Germany] Berlin’s Housing Slump Is Over as Shortage Lures Investors. The prospect of higher rents in the German capital is countering the downward pull of financing costs – Bloomberg
- [United Kingdom] How likely is a recovery in the UK housing market? Falling mortgage rates and an uptick in agreed sales offer encouragement. But economic risks remain – FT
- [United Kingdom] UK to Toughen Rules on Short-Term Lets to Tackle ‘Hollowing Out’ – Bloomberg
- [United Kingdom] Government to outline new curbs on short-term lets in England. Local residents being pushed out of tourist hotspots prompts response – FT
- [United Kingdom] UK Home Asking Prices Rise as Mortgage Relief Spurs Activity. Rightmove says price of new listings now higher than year ago. Findings are further evidence of market recovering momentum – Bloomberg
- [United Kingdom] Mortgage lending to older UK borrowers slumps. Higher interest rates hit the market for the over-55s – FT
- [United Kingdom] UK Homeowners Are Proving More Resilient Than Once Feared. Affordability tests help ensure mortgage market’s resilience. Those re-mortgaging benefit from falling borrowing costs – Bloomberg
- [United Kingdom] Jeremy Hunt draws up plans for 99% mortgage scheme. UK chancellor’s move aims to reassure voters that Conservatives represent the interests of homeowners – FT
- [United Kingdom] Everything about Cambridge is booming — except housing supply. The population has been rising as jobs in biotech and pharma proliferate but the city struggles to build enough homes – FT