The Unassuming Economist

On cross-country:

• Mapping the literature of ‘policy transfer’ and housing – UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence
• Mapping the literature on housing taxation in the UK and other OECD countries – UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence

On the US:

• Mortgage Design in an Equilibrium Model of the Housing Market – NBER
• What to Expect From the Housing Market This Spring – New York Times
• California’s Housing Prices Need to Come Down – Citylab

On other countries:

• [Canada] Toronto’s Tale of Two Markets Is Hot Condos and Cold Houses – Bloomberg
• [China] China looks to Reits to ease housing woes – Financial Times
• [China] Does Housing Unaffordability Crowd Out Elites in Chinese Superstar Cities? – Shanghai University of Finance and Economics
• [Germany] Berlin loosens law for short-term home rentals – Reuters
• [Japan] Land ho, a sign of life in Japan – Financial Times
• [Netherlands] Revolutionary housing project brings Dutch youth together with refugees – UNHCR
• [Netherlands] Airbnb rentals in Netherlands are worsening the housing crisis – Global Property Guide
• [United Kingdom] High housing costs deter workers moving to London – Financial Times
• [United Kingdom] Brexit and the City: Tracking the fortunes of London’s financial districts – Reuters
• [United Kingdom] Brexit and the City – the real estate agent’s view – Reuters

Photo by Aliis Sinisalu

On cross-country:

• The Pursuit of Financial Stability and Tasks for Monetary, Regulatory, and Macro-Prudential Policies – IMF
• True Affordability: Critiquing the International Housing Affordability Survey – Victoria Transport Policy Institute

On the US:

• Affordable housing: Supply side innovation? – Rutgers Center for Real Estate
• Land-Use Regulations, Property Values, and Rents: Decomposing the Effects of the California Coastal Act – Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
• For Low-Income Renters, the Affordable Housing Gap Persists – Citylab
• How Mortgage Companies Might Finally Be Held Accountable – The Nation
• Segregation Forever? Richard Rothstein speaks at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Economic Policy Institute
• Mortgage Debt and Shadow Banks – De Nederlandsche Bank
• Housing as a hub for health, community services, and upward mobility – Brookings
• The Seven Sizzling Housing Markets – John Burns Real Estate Consulting
• The Next Housing Crisis: A Historic Shortage of New Homes – Wall Street Journal
• Spring may not be so hot for U.S. housing markets – Global Property Guide
• A housing recovery without homeowners – Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis
• California Housing Problems Are Spilling Across Its Borders – New York Times
• Trump’s Tariffs Will Make Housing More Unaffordable – Reason
• Valuing urban land: Comparing the use of teardown and vacant land sales – Regional Science and Urban Economics
• Suburban Housing Costs Are Stretching Families to the Brink – Slate
• Commuting, Labor, and Housing Market Effects of Mass Transportation: Welfare and Identification – Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
• How Do Funding and Review Processes Shape the Design of Affordable Housing? – Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies

On other countries:

• [Canada] The Propagation of Regional Shocks in Housing Markets: Evidence from Oil Price Shocks in Canada – Bank of Canada
• [Iceland] Short-term renting of residential apartments Effects of Airbnb in the Icelandic housing market – Central Bank of Iceland
• [Switzerland] Swiss central bank warns of ‘correction’ in real estate – Financial Times
• [United Kingdom] Rethinking London’s ‘ripple effect’ on house prices: other UK regions transmit shocks too – London School of Economics
• [United Kingdom] Home Ownership Aspirations Survey – Cluttons

Photo by Aliis Sinisalu

From Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis:

“Historically, the cost of buying a house has been positively correlated with the percent of households that own their home. During 1996 to 2006 in the United States, both the price of houses and the homeownership rate increased. This increasing trend ended abruptly with the global financial crisis, which saw house prices plunge and drove homeownership rates to historically low levels. If homeownership became less attractive in the wake of the financial crisis, we might expect both prices and homeownership to decrease. Similarly, if the current increase in house prices were driven by people buying homes to live in, we might expect the homeownership rate to increase along with prices. However, recent evidence shows that house prices and homeownership are diverging.

The graph shows that, in the wake of the financial crisis, house prices declined by over 25 percent, from an index value of around 180 to around 135. The homeownership rate also dropped from a high of over 69 percent to just over 63 percent, its lowest level since 1980. Unlike in the past, the homeownership rate continued to fall even after house prices began to recover.

Several factors could be driving the decoupling of house prices and the homeownership rate. From the housing supply side, there is a trend toward decreased construction of starter and mid-size housing units. Developers have increased the construction of large single-family homes at the expense of other segments in the market. This limited supply, particularly for starter homes, could result in increased prices for those homes and fewer new homeowners.”

 

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The IMF’s latest report on Namibia says that:

“The rapid rise in housing prices and household debt, banks’ large exposure to mortgages, and banks reliance on wholesale funding are sources of concern. A major decline in real estate prices would adversely affect bank capital and profitability.”

 

On cross-country:

• Mortgages, developers and property prices – Bank for International Settlements
• FT Special Report on Property Market – Financial Times
• The US homeownership rate has lost ground compared with other developed countries – Urban Institute

On the US:

• It All Adds Up: The Cost of Housing Development Fees in Seven California Cities – Terner Center for Housing Innovation (UC Berkely)
• “Sand castles before the tide”: How can America’s most expensive cities keep themselves affordable? – American Economic Association
• Student Debt vs. Homeownership – Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond
• Rising Mortgage Rates Threaten Housing Affordability and Inventory – Zillow
• The Trump Administration’s War on New Housing – Citylab
• Black homeownership rates haven’t changed much in the 50 years since the Fair Housing Act – Curbed
• With Some Homeownership Incentives Gone, Will More Americans Actually Rent? – Governing
• White Flight’ Persists in America’s Suburbs – Citylab
• Want Affordable Housing? Just Build More of It – Bloomberg
• Panel Discussion Explores Potential for Small Unit Housing in New York City – NYU Furman Center
• First-Time Homebuyer Counseling and the Mortgage Selection Experience in the United States: Evidence from the National Survey of Mortgage Originations – Federal Housing Finance Agency
• Mortgage Experiences of Rural Borrowers in the United States: Insights from the National Survey of Mortgage Originations – Federal Housing Finance Agency

On other countries:

• [Australia] The Effect of Zoning on Housing Prices – Reserve Bank of Australia
• [Australia] The Distribution of Mortgage Rates – Reserve Bank of Australia
• [Australia] Making Better Economic Cases For Housing Policies – University of New South Wales
• [Belgium] Housing Market in Belgium – IMF
• [Canada] Vancouver’s empty-homes tax might not affect as many homeowners as predicted – The Globe and Mail
• [Malaysia] Housing Market in Malaysia – IMF
• [Netherlands] Gentrification through the sale of rental housing? Evidence from Amsterdam – EconPapers
• [New Zealand] Getting the best out of macro-prudential policy – Reserve Bank of New Zealand
• [Portugal] Increasing number of foreigners snap up beachside homes in Portugal – Global Property Guide
• [Sweden] Sweden Responds to Worst Housing Slump Since 2008 With Supply – Bloomberg
• [United Arab Emirates] Dubai: Come Undone – REIDIN
• [United Kingdom] Housing Crisis: Big Speeches, Small Steps – New Economics Foundation

Photo by Aliis Sinisalu