The Unassuming Economist

On cross-country:

• Global Residential Real Estate Market Report Q2 2023 – Global Property Guide
• The Housing Market Where Renters Can Make a Fortune – Bloomberg
• As China Battles Falling Home Prices, the U.S. Faces a Worsening Housing Shortage – Council on Foreign Relations

Working papers and conferences:

• Institutional Housing Investors and the Great Recession – Philadelphia Fed
• Social Capital and Mortgages – Philadelphia Fed
• Bringing Household Finance Back In: House Prices and the Missing Macroeconomics of Comparative Political Economy – Sage Journals
• Housing Speculation, GSEs, and Credit Market Spillovers – SSRN
• Housing Affordability and Household Mobility – SSRN
• International Spillover Effects of External Shocks on House Prices – SSRN
• The intergenerational transmission of housing wealth – VoxEU   
• Does Space Matter? The Case of the Housing Expenditure Cap – SSRN

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

• Preliminary 2024 Housing Forecasts. 6%+ Mortgage Rates, House Price Increases, Multi-family Starts Down Sharply – Calculated Risk
• Home Sales on Track for Slowest Year Since Housing Bust. Residential real-estate market hindered by mortgage rates, limited inventory – Wall Street Journal
• Mapping Home Price Changes – New York Fed
• Fed’s Harker says high interest rates closing off housing for new buyers – Reuters
• Single-Family Starts Post Unexpected Gain in September as High Interest Rates Persist – NAHB
• NYC Homeowner Costs Are Rising at Three Times the Inflation Rate. Monthly fees and expenses for inspections, insurance and climate-friendly upgrades are squeezing residents of the city’s many co-op and condo buildings. – Bloomberg
• US single-family starts rise; soaring mortgage rates a challenge – Reuters

On the US—other developments:    

• Housing remains America’s biggest supply chain problem. Unwittingly exacerbated by the Fed, this inflation story isn’t going anywhere – FT
• White House Announces New Actions on Homeownership – The White House
• US Housing Affordability Worsens to New Record Low on High Rates. National Association of Realtors index fell to 91.7 in August. Families spent 27.3% of income on annual mortgage payment – Bloomberg
• Housing remains a puzzle in Fed’s inflation fight – Reuters
• 3rd Look at Local Housing Markets in September. Sales in Florida were Up Year-over-year in September due to Hurricane Ian in 2022 – Calculated Risk
• Home Sales on Track for Slowest Year Since Housing Bust. Residential real-estate market hindered by mortgage rates, limited inventory – Wall Street Journal
• Lawler: Early Read on Existing Home Sales in September – Calculated Risk
• US Homebuilder Sentiment Declines to Lowest Level in Nine Months – Bloomberg
• Home-Sales Report to Show How Much High Rates Squeezed Market. Economists estimate purchases of existing homes fell in September – Wall Street Journal
• Unknown pressures in America’s overly gentrified housing market. LTV will tear us apart again – FT

On China:

• China’s Home Prices Drop at Faster Pace in Blow to Sentiment. Housing slump persists despite recent policy stimulus measures. Property giant Country Garden has signaled likely default – Bloomberg
• China’s Home Prices Drop at Faster Pace in Blow to Sentiment. Housing slump persists despite recent policy stimulus measures. Property giant Country Garden has signaled likely default – Bloomberg
• Chinese developer Country Garden misses payment on dollar bond, say creditors. Heavily indebted company becomes latest casualty of China’s property crisis – FT
• IMF says China property slowdown will weigh on Asia’s growth – Reuters
• China Bet It All on Real Estate. Now Its Economy Is Paying the Price. After relying on a borrow-to-build model for decades, Beijing must make difficult choices about the country’s housing market and economic future. – New York Times
• China Property Bonds Looked Cheap at 20 Cents on the Dollar. They Weren’t. Distressed-debt funds lost big after betting on a turnaround in the sector – Wall Street Journal
• IMF Warns of Spillover Risks From China’s Property Sector Slump – Bloomberg
• Property crisis pushes China to increase financial risk monitoring, asset disposal for troubled small banks. Commercial banks and rural financial institutions will be helped to dispose of bad assets and loans, while also having their capital replenished through multiple channels. Beijing is striving to establish a high-quality inclusive financial system over the next five years to increase funding for small market entities and agricultural sectors – South China Morning Post

On other countries:  

• [Australia] House prices poised to rise this year, and in 2024: survey – Financial Review
• [Australia] Australia’s House Prices Set for First Rebound During Rate Hikes – Bloomberg
• [Canada] Canada targets Airbnb, others to ease rental shortage – Reuters
• [Canada] Airbnb Faces New Curbs in Canada After Sharp Rise in Rents. Rental platforms ‘mean fewer homes for Canadians’: Freeland. Comments follow British Columbia plan on short-term rentals – Bloomberg
• [Germany] German Housing Crisis Deepens on Record Building Cancellations. Monthly Ifo survey shows deteriorating conditons for builders. Business confidence also slumps to all-time low in September – Bloomberg
• [Ireland] Ireland’s house prices, earnings and favourite cars, from the 1970s to today in six charts. Central Statistics Office releases data on Ireland’s 50 year membership of the EU – The Irish Times
• [Singapore] Singapore’s $20 Million Shophouses Are Blazing-Hot Properties. In the island nation’s real estate market, the distinctive two- to three-story row buildings can fetch $4,000 a square foot. – Bloomberg
• [Tokyo] Hunt for trophy apartments in Tokyo sends prices sky high. Newly minted millionaires vie with foreign buyers for scarce property – FT
• [United Kingdom] Labour’s housing plans will not solve the affordability crisis. Martin Walsh, Michael Ball and John Worrall respond to the party’s proposals to address housing issues in the country – The Guardian 
• [United Kingdom] Cash buyers keep top end of London’s property market ‘robust’. Sales worth £5mn or more almost 70% higher than pre-pandemic average, according to Savills – FT
• [United Kingdom] UK Home Sellers Are Waking Up to Reality. The stalemate between buyers and sellers is slowly moving in the right direction. – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] Rishi Sunak to push ahead with plan to end no-fault evictions in England. Prime minister gives go-ahead despite lengthy row within Conservative party over the measure – FT
• [United Kingdom] UK house prices rise by smallest annual rate since 2012 – ONS – Reuters
• [United Kingdom] Britain’s Housing Crisis: What Went Wrong? review – the most nakedly furious documentary of the year – The Guardian

On cross-country:

• BOE Sees Global House Prices Falling, Warns on China Risks – Bloomberg
• Why Singapore, Seoul and Japan are defying the real estate downturn. Singapore’s housing market and South Korea’s grade A office market are outperforming most others. Japan, meanwhile, is benefiting from efforts to relocate supply chains away from China – South China Morning Post

Working papers and conferences:

• Institutional Housing Investors and the Great Recession – Philadelphia Fed
• The Environmental Cost of Easy Credit: The Housing Channel – NBER
• The environmental burden of aesthetic norms – VoxEU
• Removing Conflict of Interest for Agents of Homebuyers – Richmond Fed

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

• Housing Groups, Mortgage Lenders Urge Powell to Halt Fed Hikes. Homebuilders, realtors and mortgage bankers unite in letter. Lobby groups say rate volatility hurting housing affordability – Bloomberg
• Mortgage Activity Increases Despite Rise in Interest Rates – NAHB
• Is the Housing Market Overvalued? What Buyers Need To Know – Realtor.com
• US housing: recharged. Goldman thinks price growth is going to reaccelerate – FT
• US Housing market crash turns not-so-sweet 16 – Goldman Sachs  

On the US—other developments:    

• Six Things You Need to Know About Housing Post-Covid-19. A Shifting Outlook – Dallas Fed
• The Californization of the Texas Housing Market. Migration from more expensive states has pushed home prices out of reach for many locals; ‘a very hard market for first-time buyers’ – Wall Street Journal
• Part 2: Current State of the Housing Market; Overview for mid-October – Calculated Risk
• Characteristics of Recent Home Buyers – NAHB
• 1st Look at Local Housing Markets in September. Early Reporting Markets suggest Sales at New Cycle Low in September – Calculated Risk
• 2nd Look at Local Housing Markets in September. Early Reporting Markets suggest Sales at New Cycle Low in September – Calculated Risk
• How can America fix its housing shortage? – The Economist
• September 2023 Monthly Housing Market Trends Report – Realtor.com
• Herbert Hoover’s Department of Commerce and the Origins of US Housing Data – Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies

On China:

• Amid turmoil in China’s property market, the public seethes. Anger is turning against the tycoons who profited from a house-building boom – The Economist
• China property: Country Garden default would blight market outlook. Impact threatens to be much larger than Evergrande fallout, with shockwaves rippling across Asia – FT
• Why a property crash could be good for China. The wealth redistribution would benefit ordinary families, boost consumption and rebalance the economy. China needs more sustainable economic growth and, crucially, it has the tools to minimise the short-term pain needed to achieve this – South China Morning Post

On other countries:  

• [Australia] House price rally not sustainable, warn economists – Financial Review
• [Australia] Australia under more mortgage stress than any other nation, IMF says. Cost of repaying loans is 15% of income and likely to be higher after this year’s rate hikes, as fund predicts GDP growth of 1.2% next year – The Guardian
• [Hong Kong] Hong Kong developers hit by Federal Reserve’s ‘higher for longer’ interest rates. Five of the territory’s biggest real estate companies have lost $20bn in market value this year – FT  
• [Singapore] Singapore Is Fighting Rising Seas to Save $50 Billion in Real Estate. The island nation won’t cede “an inch of land,” a government official pledges. – Bloomberg
• [Sweden] Swedish Households’ Optimism on Housing Prices Is Fading – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] UK house prices fall for sixth consecutive month. House prices down 0.4% between August and September – FT
• [United Kingdom] Building firms tell Sunak undoing green policies will hit housing investment. More than 100 leading companies urge PM to reinstate net zero measures to avoid hardship for many – The Guardian
• [United Kingdom] UK house prices drop 13.4% from peak in real terms. Inflation masks extent of decline from March 2022 record level – FT
• [United Kingdom] More surveyors report falling UK house prices than at any time since 2009. Rics survey shows demand for homes and sales volumes also contracted in September – FT

On cross-country:

• Where are European mortgage holders most exposed to higher rates? Borrower preferences and lender offerings differ dramatically even within the single currency area – FT
• Millennials and boomers are competing for homes. Guess who’s winning? Rising prices, high rates and demographics are reversing millennial gains – FT 
• House prices and rents increased in Q2 2023 – European Commission
• European house prices log first annual fall since 2014. Decline comes despite slight rebound in prices over the second quarter – FT
• Q2 house prices mark first annual decrease since 2014 – Eurostat – Reuters 

Working papers and conferences:

• Comparing Measures of Rental Prices Can Inform Monetary Policy – Kansas City Fed
• Discovery of Unregulated Contaminants in Drinking Water: Evidence from PFAS and Housing Prices – NBER
• The Price of Short-Term Housing: A Study of Airbnb on 26 Regions in the United States – SSRN
• Does Green Infrastructure Affect Housing Prices Via Extreme Heat and Air Pollution Mitigation? A Focus on Green and Climate Gentrification in Los Angeles County, 2000-2021 – SSRN  

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

• Wall Street Thinks America’s Homes Are Overvalued. As prices paid for the average single-family property hit record highs, big investors are taking a pass – Bloomberg
• US 30-Year Mortgage Rate Tops 7.5% for First Time Since 2000. Higher rate sends MBA home-purchase index to lowest since 1995. 30-year fixed rate has climbed 32 basis points in four weeks – Bloomberg
• Mortgage Rates in US Rise to Highest in More Than Two Decades. Average on a 30-year, fixed loan climbed for a third week. Buyers are waiting with prices also high, economist says – Bloomberg
• Freddie Mac House Price Index Increased in August to New High; Up 4.0% Year-over-year. Austin Prices Down 10.9% from Peak Seasonally Adjusted – Calculated Risk
• ICE (Black Knight) Mortgage Monitor: “Home Prices Set Yet Another Record in August” – Calculated Risk
• FHFA’s National Mortgage Database: Outstanding Mortgage Rates, LTV and Credit Scores – Calculated Risk
• Strong Housing Has Fed Looking Elsewhere to Slow Economy, Barkin Suggests. Why the US economy has remained resilient to higher rates. – Bloomberg

On the US—other developments:    

• Is the Real Estate Market Going To Crash? – Wharton
• Passing pro-housing legislation is only the first step in making housing more affordable – Brookings
• A Glimmer of Hope in a Dysfunctional Housing Market – Washington Post
• A Government Shutdown Would Disrupt the Housing Market in These Surprising (and Painful) Ways – Realtor.com
• August 2023 Hottest Housing Markets – Realtor.com

On China:

• China Comes Under Growing Pressure to Fix the Country’s Housing Market. Economists and investors urge Beijing to take forceful steps as founder of developer Evergrande faces assets-transfer probe – Wall Street Journal
• Does China’s Property Bust Make a Financial Crisis Inevitable? Perhaps not—if Beijing plays its cards right. But serious damage to the nation’s prospects is still likely. A look at the problem in five charts. – Wall Street Journal
• How China’s Property Crisis Is Testing Its Too-Big-to-Fail Banks. Banks hold enormous amounts of real estate debt, and regulators are nervous. But a fast-moving crisis is unlikely because the government has extensive control of the system. – New York Times

On other countries:  

• [Australia] Australian Home Prices Stay Strong as RBA Seen Standing Pat. Sydney, Melbourne middle market posting highest growth rate. Reserve Bank expected to keep key rate on hold on Tuesday – Bloomberg
• [Australia] Australian Home Prices Stay Strong as RBA Seen Standing Pat. Sydney, Melbourne middle market posting highest growth rate. Reserve Bank expected to keep key rate on hold on Tuesday – Bloomberg
• [Canada] Policy changes will boost rental stock, but only years from now. Ottawa last week raised the limit for the Canada Mortgage Bonds from $40B to a maximum of $60B – Yahoo Finance
• [Canada] Canada Housing Body Says It Will Take C$1 Trillion to Meet Goals – Bloomberg
• [Finland] Finnish Housing Prices to Pick Up Next Year, Nordea Forecasts. Finnish home prices to rise 1% in 2024 after 6% drop in 2023. Nordea Bank expects home price declines to end this quarter – Bloomberg
• [Hong Kong] Hong Kong Banks Struggle to Sell Foreclosed Homes Even at 20% Discount. Property firms are seeing significant rise in seized homes. Higher interest rates, weak economy contribute to the increase – Bloomberg
• [Ireland] House prices edge higher as available secondhand properties tumble – Daft.ie. Secondhand market remains ‘tight’ and has not recovered from the pandemic – The Irish Times
• [Ireland] House prices soaring outside Dublin as remote workers spread their wings – The Sunday Times
• [Ireland] Asking prices for Irish homes pick up again – surveys – Reuters
• [Japan] Surging Tokyo property prices squeeze out young professionals – Reuters
• [New Zealand] NZ housing market gives first-time buyers a whiff of opportunity – Financial Review 
• [New Zealand] New Zealand House-Price Slump May Be Over, CoreLogic Says. Prices steady in September after 17 straight monthly declines. ‘Housing market confidence seems to have turned a corner’ – Bloomberg
• [Portugal] Portugal to scrap ‘unjust’ tax breaks for foreign residents. Low-tax scheme launched during financial crisis has stoked housing inflation that has drawn protests across country – The Guardian
• [Portugal] Real Estate Investors Say Portugal Needs More Homes, Not Fewer Tax Breaks for Foreigners. Portugal plans to end its non-habitual resident regime in 2024. Premier Costa says regime is unfair, helps inflate home prices – Bloomberg
• [Singapore] Singapore Property Prices Rose Marginally in Third Quarter — Update. Sale transaction volumes slid about 15% on a quarterly basis and by about 26% from the previous year – Wall Street Journal
• [Spain] The Effect of Second-Generation Rent Controls: New Evidence from Catalonia – San Francisco Fed
• [Sweden] Swedish Home Prices Fall Again in September, Down 13% From Peak – Bloomberg
• [Thailand] Thailand’s Real Estate Boom: The Impact of Chinese Investment. A boom in Chinese investment has pushed up property prices. Does the new Thai government have a plan to manage the impact? – The Diplomat
• [United Kingdom] The What Can the UK Learn From Germany’s Housing Slump? There’s a common factor at work here, and it has nothing to do with physical supply and demand. – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] UK 5-Year Mortgage Rate Drops Below 6% for First Time Since July. Key UK mortgage rates are slowly retreating from 14-year highs. Softer inflation, BOE pause are helping cool financing costs – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] UK’s Mortgage Crunch Is Easing as House Prices Stay Put. House prices unchanged following two months of declines. Slump eases in London’s market while sales of flats hold up – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] UK house prices drop 5.3% with falls in every region, says Nationwide. High interest rates blamed for year-on-year fall with price of average home £14,500 lower than September 2022. – The Guardian
• [United Kingdom] Home buyers choosing smaller properties and 35-year mortgages – BBC

On cross-country:

• The Upside to Slumping Home Prices – Barrons
• The Economics of Green Buildings that are Both Low Carbon and Resilient to Natural Disaster Risk. Who Certifies Quality for Infrequent Purchases? – Climate Economics

Working papers and conferences:

• Portfolio Flows, Household Rebalancing, and House Prices – SSRN
• The Intergenerational Transmission of Housing Wealth – SSRN
• Rent Control and Neighborhood Income. Evidence from Vienna, Austria – SSRN
• Decoding the Spatial Dynamics of Sales and Rental Prices in a High-Pressure Portuguese Housing Market: A Random Forest Approach for the Lisbon Metropolitan Area – SSRN
• On the Slope of the Beveridge Curve in the Housing Market – SSRN   

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

• Welcoming remarks by Governor Bowman on post-pandemic challenges and strategies for addressing rental housing affordability – FED
• August 2023 Rental Report: Renting A Starter Home Is A More Affordable Option Than Buying in All but Three of the Largest U.S. Metros – Realtor.com
• Economic, Housing and Mortgage Market Outlook – September 2023 – Freddie Mac
• World’s Mega-Rich Are Betting on US Renters to Grow Their Billions. Ortega, Ofer have bought US apartment properties recently. Falling prices and rent growth have lured richest buyers – Bloomberg
• Case-Shiller: National House Price Index Up 1.0% year-over-year in July; New all-time High. “Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) seasonally adjusted monthly House Price Index … rose 4.6 percent from July 2022 to July 2023.” – Calculated Risk
• New Home Sales Weaken in August on Higher Mortgage Rates – NAHB
• August Home Sales Declined to Slowest Pace Since January. Prices were up from year earlier with a limited number of houses on the market – Wall Street Journal
• Home Prices Continue to Rise Despite Sales Slowdown. Housing supply “needs to essentially double to moderate home price gains,” says NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun. – National Association of Realtors
• Home Prices and Interest Rates Still Rising, Shutting Out More Potential Homebuyers – Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies

On the US—other developments:    

• Climate change is coming for America’s property market. Insurance is supposed to signal risk. Policymakers should let it – The Economist
• Parts of America are becoming uninsurable. Blame growth in hazardous areas, climate change and bad policy – The Economist
• ‘A contradiction’: U.S. subsidizes ‘sustainable’ buildings, but leaves them vulnerable to floods. The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system is the gold standard for environmental design. But more than 800 LEED-certified buildings are at risk from climate-related disasters. – Politico
• The Value of Residential Real Estate Broke a New Record $52 Trillion. The total value of the U.S. housing market is 49% higher than before the pandemic. – Zillow
• Final Look at Local Housing Markets in August – Calculated Risk
• New Research Sheds Light on the Economic Consequences of Evictions. Yale researchers use big data to study the link between evictions and poverty in Chicago and New York City. – Yale
• How Would a Government Shutdown Impact the Housing Market? Low Demand in D.C., Possible Temporary Dip in Mortgage Rates – Redfin
• Why Don’t We Just Build New Cities? Yearning for a blank slate crosses the ideological spectrum—but sooner or later, new places will face the same old problems. – The Atlantic

On China:

• Why Are China’s Households in the Doldrums? – New York Fed
• China Has Second Thoughts About Controlling Prices in Its Multi Trillion-Dollar Housing Market. Authorities imposed rules against ‘malicious’ price cuts but now are rethinking them, with hard-to-predict consequences for the economy – Wall Street Journal
• Evergrande Sends Chilling Warning to China Real Estate Investors. The developer’s restructuring plan is in tatters, raising questions over the government’s stance – Bloomberg
• How Country Garden Plays Into China’s Property Mess – Bloomberg
• Teetering China Property Giants Undercut Xi’s Revival Push. Evergrande drama hurts sentiment before key sales season. Developers need cash from sales as slump hurts economy – Bloomberg
• China property: accelerating meltdown threatens other markets. Nervousness over the risk of contagion could spread into commodities – FT
• China Developers Drop Most in 9 Months on Evergrande Woes. Bloomberg Intelligence gauge posts biggest drop this year Evergrande’s restructuring uncertainties hit sentiment – Bloomberg
• Real Estate Crisis Triggers New Alarms Over China’s Shadow Banks. A financially troubled firm has stopped paying investors, risking panic and testing the Chinese government’s resolve to take on debts from its property crisis. – New York Times
• China property crisis: Country Garden faces reckoning as sluggish economy, bets on smaller cities unravel. Beleaguered Country Garden faces US$14.9 billion in debt maturity in the next year, as it tries to avoid becoming latest Chinese developer to default. Country Garden bet big on future growth in China’s tier 3 and tier 4 cities, where overbuilding and declining population now threaten property prices – South China Morning Post

On other countries:  

• [Austria] The Hidden Failures of Social Housing in ‘Red Vienna’. A new report details how the city’s famed social housing system is suffering from diminishing affordability, deteriorating quality, and funding shortfalls. – Reason
• [Germany] German House Prices Fall at Steepest Pace Since at Least 2000 – Bloomberg
• [Germany] Germany’s Scholz Tells Homeowners They Can Cope with 4% Rates. Chancellor supports ECB’s monetary-tightening campaign. Lack of savings, not just rates, weighing on house prices – Bloomberg
• [Germany] Germany’s Housing Sector Slumps Into Crisis – AFP
• [Germany] Germany drops stricter energy savings requirements for houses – FT
• [Hong Kong] Hong Kong Relaxes Mortgage Rules as Property Market Falters. Down payment reduced for some homes under construction. Move comes as prices continue to be weighed by higher rates – Bloomberg
• [Hong Kong] With interest rates likely to have peaked, Hong Kong home prices will soon begin to look up, Knight Frank analyst says. Falling global interest rates should boost property prices, but any gains in Hong Kong could be delayed until there is a broader economic recovery locally and in China. Lived-in home prices in Hong Kong fell 1.1 per cent in July, the most this year, as rising interest rates kept buyers on the sidelines – South China Morning Post
• [Hong Kong] Different times: Hong Kong finance chief Paul Chan hints decade-old property curbs have had their day as home prices slide. Paul Chan says the property market situation is different from that when the government introduced the management measures in 2010. Chan returned home after touring Europe at the head of a 130-strong delegation in effort to tout Hong Kong as top business destination – South China Morning Post
• [India] India considering $7.2 bln housing loan interest subsidy scheme- govt sources – Reuters
• [Portugal] Portugal approves 30% cut in mortgage rates for struggling borrowers – Reuters
• [South Korea] South Korea to Shore Up Housing Supply With More Loan Guarantees. Ceiling on loans will rise to 70% of total costs, from 50%. Type of debt was at the heart of Korea’s 2022 credit crunch – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] The UK Might Solve Its Housing Shortage by 2100. A root-and-branch reset of the planning system is required to break the logjam. – Bloomberg  
• [United Kingdom] First-time buyers in UK drop by a fifth as higher mortgage costs bite. Lender says homes needing renovation are most in demand as people seek cheaper properties – The Guardian
• [United Kingdom] UK home sellers increase discounts to secure deals, Zoopla data shows. Reductions rose in September to 4.2% of original asking price, the highest level since early 2019 – FT 

Working papers and conferences:

• Heterogeneous Real Estate Agents and the Housing Cycle – NBER
• Hot temperatures: A new player in housing markets – CEPR
• The Impact of Institutional Investors on Homeownership and Neighborhood Access – SSRN
• Urban Renewal and Inequality: Evidence from Chicago’s Public Housing Demolitions – SSRN
• Covid-19 and Preferences for Subway Proximity: Evidence from the Chinese Housing Market – SSRN
• Effect of Housing Ownership on Young People’s Decisions to Enter into the Union of Marriage – SSRN
• Upzoning with Strings Attached: Evidence from Seattle’s Affordable Housing Mandate – SSRN  

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

• US Housing Starts Drop to Lowest Since 2020 While Permits Rise. Multifamily starts plunged to lowest since onset of pandemic. Single-family permits accelerated to fastest pace since 2022 – Bloomberg
• Housing Starts Fall in August, Led by Declining Multi-Family Activity – Realtor.com
• Why America’s housing crisis has hit a new inflection point – Axios
• High Mortgage Rates Continue to Weaken Builder Confidence – NAHB   
• August Housing Starts: Near Record Number of Multi-Family Housing Units Under Construction. Housing Starts Decreased to 1.283 million Annual Rate in August – Calculated Risk
• Can Zillow’s Low Down Payment Program Help Thaw the Housing Market? Wharton’s Benjamin Keys weighs in on Zillow’s new 1% down payment loan, saying the fintech firm is trying to innovate in a housing market that just isn’t moving. – Wharton
• Rentals won’t save the housing market – FT
• US housing feels the squeeze from high mortgage rates. A tripling of US mortgage rates constrained both the demand and supply of housing, leaving existing home sales at post-GFC lows. Mortgage rates will rise further in the wake of the market’s reaction to yesterday’s Fed forecasts, further constraining activity – ING

On the US—other developments:    

• America’s Missing Empty Homes. Housing Vacancy Rates are at Historic Lows—Signaling an Extremely Supply-Constrained Market – Apricitas Economics
• America’s Biggest Landlords Can’t Find Houses to Buy Either. Higher rates and few properties for sale have slowed Wall Street’s home buying – Wall Street Journal
• Repeat after me: building any new homes reduces housing costs for all. Building unsubsidised housing pushes down rents and prices while freeing up cheaper properties – FT
• Housing Market Update: Monthly Housing Costs Hit All-Time High, Deterring Would-Be Buyers – Redfin
• Part 2: Current State of the Housing Market; Overview for mid-September – Calculated Risk
• 3rd Look at Local Housing Markets in August. Local Markets Suggest August Sales Close to the July Sales Rate – Calculated Risk
• 4th Look at Local Housing Markets in August. California Home Sales Down 18.9% YoY in August – Calculated Risk
• This racist US housing policy that tried to fix poverty is a massive failure. Moving low-income, Black people into ‘better’ neighborhoods splits up communities and does not solve poverty – The Guardian
• Flawed US Home-Loan System Neglects the Buyers Who Need It Most. Federal Home Loan Banks have a stated mission of supporting affordable housing. But community lenders have a tougher time getting access to funds. – Bloomberg
• Lawler: Early Read on Existing Home Sales in August and Some New Household/Housing Stock Data – Calculated Risk
• Where 20 years of new housing was built in Washington, DC—and where it wasn’t – Brookings
• NAR: Existing-Home Sales Decreased to 4.04 million SAAR in August. Median Prices Increased 3.9% YoY in August – Calculated Risk

On China:

• An Even Bigger Housing Crisis Threatens China’s Economy. Two years after Evergrande’s fall, distressed property giant Country Garden could create bigger problems – Wall Street Journal
• China’s property revival plan threatened by stand-off over old neighbourhoods. Beijing turns to past playbook of redeveloping poorer areas in hopes of revitalising troubled sector – FT
• China’s property price caps have two sharp edges – Reuters
• The climate upside of China’s real estate downturn – Reuters
• China economy best revived by easing of property restrictions. Reversal of measures that have progressively stifled the homes market has removed the need for a major stimulus package – South China Morning Post

On other countries:  

• [Australia] Experts debunk myth that Chinese buyers drive up Australian property prices – The Straits Times
• [Australia] Housing’s ‘Vicious Spiral’ Drags Australia Into Deepening Crisis. The supply of rental homes is shrinking fast and there’s little sign of relief on the horizon. – Bloomberg
• [Australia] Economists Aren’t Buying Australia’s Ambitious Housing Plans – Bloomberg
• [Canada] Housing Investors Are Getting Flushed Out as Canada’s Rates Rise. As small-time landlords are squeezed, so are renters. It could all signal a fundamental realignment of the country’s housing landscape. – Bloomberg
• [Canada] Trudeau Cuts Tax on Rental Builds, Pushes Grocers on Pricing. Canada’s prime minister is under fire for soaring costs. Suite of affordability measures unveiled ahead of fall session – Bloomberg
• [Denmark] Why Denmark’s Housing Market Works Better than Ours. Danish borrowers can buy back their loans at market prices – Aziz Sunderji
• [India] India’s property market is ready for take-off. A clean-up by Narendra Modi’s government shows signs of success – The Economist
• [Ireland] Dublin house prices fall at sharpest rate in three years. Irish price inflation slows to 1.5% as mortgage costs take the heat out of property market – The Irish Times
• [South Korea] South Korea’s Central Bank Warns of Overpriced Housing Market, Excessive Debt – Bloomberg
• [South Korea] South Korea house prices climb for second month in August – Reuters
• [Switzerland] Google Recruiting Propels Zurich Home Prices Past London, Paris. Tax breaks and low interest rates have made the Swiss financial hub one of Europe’s hottest housing markets. – Bloomberg
• [Turkey] Where House Prices Almost Doubled in a Year – Wall Street Journal
• [United Kingdom] RICS Survey Shows UK Housing Slump Worsens – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] UK House Prices Creep Up On-Month But Below the Usual Annual Trend – Wall Street Journal
• [United Kingdom] UK Rents Surge at Record Pace as Home Sellers Lift Asking Prices. Rightmove report shows property asking prices tick higher. Figures show inflationary forces prompting BOE to raise rates – Bloomberg
• [United Kingdom] UK homes: data shows supply squeeze will worsen. England’s planning drought for housing projects merely stores up problems – FT