Check out my new post at Metropolitan Abundance Project:How “inclusionary” are market-rate rentals? In metropolitan Baltimore, a family of four making $73,000 in 2024 qualifies for 60% AMI affordable housing, where it would pay $1,825 per month for rent, utilities included. A third of new … [Read more...]
The sudden death of the American condo
Condos are disappearing. They persist now mainly in pre-2010 buildings. Among multifamily homes built in the 2020s, just 1 in 25 is owner-occupied. What happened?Frasier's Seattle condo wouldn't be built todayI pulled American Community Survey data via IPUMS to get a better grasp of the … [Read more...]
Apples to apples housing cost comparisons
I recently ran across an interesting discussion on Twitter about housing costs. Someone praised Chicago's low housing costs, and someone else responded that because Chicago's most troubled neighborhoods are so unusually dangerous and disinvested (compared to the most troubled parts of a safer city … [Read more...]
Resources for Reformers: Houston’s minimum lot sizes
Updated 1/11/24 to add 3 new papers, Wegmann, Baqai, and Conrad (2023), Dobbels & Tavakalov (2023), and Hamilton (2024). The original post was published 3/14/23.A concerted research effort has brought minimum lot sizes into focus as a key element in city zoning reform. Boise is looking at … [Read more...]
Is there really a building boom? Not as much as you might think
I've noticed numerous stories and tweets about a building boom: for example, a recent CNBC story asserts that the number of new apartments is "at a 50-year high." Various twitterati have used this claim to support their own points of view: some claim that rents are stabilizing because of this new … [Read more...]
Are Republicans or Democrats more pro-housing? Yes.
Some weeks ago, I was participating in a Zoom discussion on NIMBYism, and someone asked: are Republicans and conservatives more pro-housing than Democrats and liberals, or less so?After examining some poll data, I discovered that the answer depends on how the question is asked. A 2023 Yougov … [Read more...]
Rhode Island’s housing process package
"Renting in Providence puts city councilors in precarious situations." That was the Providence Journal's leading headline a few days ago, as the legislature waited for Governor Daniel McKee to sign a pile of housing-related bills (Update: He signed them all). Rhode Island doesn't have a superstar … [Read more...]
Why lawyer salaries matter
Today's Wall Street Journal includes a front-page article about sky-high lawyer incomes. The article points out that top lawyers can earn $15 million per year or more.Why is this relevant to urbanism or markets? Because one common argument against new condos (at least in NYC) is that they … [Read more...]