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Report
Assessing high house prices: bubbles, fundamentals, and misperceptions
We construct measures of the annual cost of single-family housing for 46 metropolitan areas in the United States over the last 25 years and compare them with local rents and incomes as a way of judging the level of housing prices. Conventional metrics like the growth rate of house prices, the price-to-rent ratio, and the price-to-income ratio can be misleading because they fail to account both for the time series pattern of real long-term interest rates and predictable differences in the long-run growth rates of house prices across local markets. These factors are especially important in ...
Journal Article
Bureaucratic rent trends
Data suggest soft rental markets in the district.
Working Paper
The effects of the real estate bust on renter perceptions of homeownership
After almost a decade of strong price appreciation, the housing market fell into a steep decline in 2007. By 2008, foreclosure filings on owner-occupied homes were surpassing record levels. Due to the housing downturn, fewer renters may aspire to own a home, which could have lasting implications for neighborhoods and household asset building. This study analyzes the impact of the housing downturn on renters? intent to purchase a home, their perceptions of the risks and benefits of homeownership, and their interest in information and advice concerning homeownership. ; Based on a survey of 400 ...
Journal Article
Buy a home or rent? A better way to choose
Knowing whether buying a home is a better financial move for a family than renting requires a consideration of costs and options that people often neglect to factor in. One aspect of the calculation that is almost always overlooked is uncertainty--the fact that no matter how good one's estimates of the future are, the future can turn out differently than projected. Incorporating uncertainty into the rent-or-buy calculation gives potential homebuyers information that can improve their decisions. While incorporating uncertainty is complicated, it's made easier with the Cleveland Fed's online ...
Discussion Paper
Affordability and availability of rental housing in Pennsylvania
The Community Affairs Department of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia undertook this study, Affordability and Availability of Rental Housing in Pennsylvania, to assess the housing needs of Pennsylvania's lower-income renter households and to better understand how their needs vary across the state. Our study looks at the incidence of housing problems among this group at both the beginning and the middle of the current decade. It also considers the extent to which there were shortages in the number of rental units that were both affordable and available to lower-income renters at these ...
Working Paper
The portfolios and wealth of low-income homeowners and renters: findings from an evaluation of Self-Help Ventures Fund’s Community Advantage Program
The distribution of wealth in the United States is more highly skewed than the distribution of income. Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of homeowners and renters. Those who own their homes typically have about 20 to 40 times more net wealth than those who rent. ; Although home equity plays a role in this growing disparity, it does not fully explain why renters hold fewer assets than homeowners. Even excluding home equity, renters are more than twice as likely to be asset-poor as are homeowners. Renters also hold a smaller range of assets than owners, suggesting that homeownership ...
Journal Article
Low-income housing tax credits in Texas: achievements and challenges
As the LIHTC program faces the biggest challenges of its nearly 25-year history, it's imperative to look holistically at the evolution and distribution patterns of this housing production program. This issue provides a program overview, a current market-condition analysis and an update on recent regulatory changes.
Journal Article
Low Income Housing Tax Credits: strategies for year 15
As the Low Income Housing Tax Credit 15-year compliance period begins to expire on affordable housing projects across the country, the Wyndham Financial Group?s William S. Hettinger examines how organizations are addressing this issue and offers strategies for success.