Recently in Housing Category

Source: Elina Bravve, Megan Bolton, Linda Couch, Sheila Crowley, National Low Income Housing Coalition, March 2012

Although the recession may have temporarily stalled the rising cost of housing in the United States, it did not result in increased access to affordable rental housing for households that need it most: extremely low income families facing the greatest housing cost burden. As demand flooded the rental market over the past year, indicated by the vacancy rate dropping to the lowest level since 2001, rental costs have begun to inch up, impacting those households already most vulnerable to price calculations. The rental market is expected to continue to heat up, with more moderate income households choosing to rent, making even fewer housing options available to low income renters....

...Out of Reach 2012 clearly shows that this need cuts across all parts of the country by fusing housing cost data with wage data at the national, state, metro, and county levels. The analysis illustrates a wide gap between the cost of decent housing and the hourly wages that renters actually earn. The numbers in Out of Reach demonstrate that this year, in every community across the country, there are renters working full-time who are unable to afford the rents where they live....

...The Housing Wage is an estimate of the full-time hourly wage a household must earn in order to afford a decent apartment at the HUD estimated Fair Market Rent (FMR) while spending no more than 30% of income on housing costs. Nationally, the average two-bedroom FMR for 2012 is $949. Accordingly, the 2012 Housing Wage is $18.25, significantly surpassing the $14.15 hourly wage actually earned by renters, on average, nationally. The gap between the Housing Wage and the average renter wage is an indicator of the magnitude of need for more affordable rental units. In 2012, in 86% of counties studied nationwide, the housing wage exceeds the average hourly wage earned by renters....
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Summary

Source: Laura Williams, Center for Housing Policy, February 2012

This report focuses on housing afford-ability for working households. For the purposes of this report, working households are those that worked at least 20 hours per week, on average, and had a household income of no more than 120 percent of the median income in their area.

Nearly one in four working households spends more than half of its income
on housing costs. Moreover, despite falling home values, housing affordability worsened significantly for working owners and renters between 2008 and 2010.... [I]ncomes declined even as rents increased over the two-year period, making housing substantially less affordable for working renters. For working owners, a modest decline in housing prices was outpaced by a larger decline in incomes, leading to higher cost burdens in
2010.
Related:
National Index Reveals Combined Housing and Transportation Affordability Has Declined Since 2000
Source: Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT), February 2012

Source: Richard Florida, The Atlantic, December 23, 2011

With just a few exceptions, the places at the top of this list have among the most expensive housing in the country. But average wages and salaries are substantially higher, enabling them to more than compensate.

Topping the list is the San Jose metro area, where the average resident has nearly $4,000 a month ($3,901)--or $46,812 per year--left over after paying for housing. Durham, North Carolina (with $3,513 per month), is next followed by greater Washington, D.C. ($3,431), and greater San Francisco ($3,342). Pricey metros such as New York, Boston, Seattle, Philadelphia, and Denver also number among the top 25.

College towns like Boulder, Corvallis, Ann Arbor, Champaign-Urbana, and Ithaca also do quite well, although it's worth noting that one college town, State College, Pa., is near the very bottom of the list.

Then, there are some surprises. People in greater Detroit, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Syracuse, Buffalo, and Rochester have a substantial amount of money left over after their housing is paid for; more than their counterparts in San Diego or Raleigh.

Source: U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-12-34, November 2011

From the summary:
According to Census Bureau data, nonseasonal vacant properties have increased 51 percent nationally from nearly 7 million in 2000 to 10 million in April 2010, with 10 states seeing increases of 70 percent or more. High foreclosure rates have contributed to the additional vacancies. Population declines in certain cities and high unemployment also may have contributed to increased vacancies. However, these data do not indicate the number of vacant properties that are inadequately maintained and imposing costs on local governments.

If a homeowner abandons a property, servicers may have the right under typical mortgage agreements to conduct certain maintenance, although they generally are not obligated to do so until they assume ownership on behalf of the loan owner after foreclosure. In 2010, the GSEs reimbursed servicers or vendors over $953 million for property maintenance costs. However, local governments reported spending millions of dollars---including federal funds---on vacant properties that are not adequately maintained. For example, Detroit spent about $20 million since May 2009 to demolish almost 4,000 vacant properties. Unattended vacant properties produce public safety costs and lower communities' tax revenues due to the decline in value of surrounding properties, with some studies finding that vacant foreclosed properties may have reduced prices of nearby homes by $8,600 to $17,000 per property in specific cities.

Source: Elina Bravve, Megan DeCrappeo, Danilo Pelletiere, Sheila Crowley, National Low Income Housing Coalition, June 2011

From the summary:
Today more than 38 million households rent their homes, 1.9 million more than in 2007. The current rate of homeownership (66.5%) is now at the lowest level since 1998. And with the foreclosure crisis and recession on the one hand and the aging of the baby boom and the coming of age of the echo boom on the other, the demand for rental housing is only projected to grow. Out of Reach is a side-by-side comparison of wages and rents in every county, Metropolitan Area (MSAs/HMFAs), combined nonmetropolitan area and state in the United States. For each jurisdiction, the report calculates the amount of money a household must earn in order to afford a rental unit in a range of sizes (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedrooms) at the area's Fair Market Rent (FMR), based on the generally accepted affordability standard of paying no more than 30% of income for housing costs. From these calculations the hourly wage a worker must earn to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom home is derived. This figure is the Housing Wage.
See also:
- Previous versions
- Rental Affordability: Multiple Measures for a Complex Concept
Source: Rolf Pendall, Urban Institute, Metro Trends blog, March 5th, 2012

Source: Joint Center for Housing Statistics of Harvard University, June 2011

With employment growth strengthening, consumer spending up, and rental markets tightening, some of the ingredients for a housing recovery were taking shape in early 2011. Yet in the first quarter of the year, new home sales plumbed record lows, existing sales remained in a slump, and home prices slid. Tight underwriting requirements, on top of uncertainty about the direction of home prices, continue to dampen homebuying activity. The weakness of demand is slowing the absorption of vacant properties for sale, hindering the recovery.

Source: Barry L. Steffen, Keith Fudge, Marge Martin, Maria Teresa Souza, David A. Vandenbroucke, Yung Gann David Yao, Department of Housing and Urban Development, February 2011

From the summary:
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) finds dramatic increases in worst case housing needs (known as "worst case needs") that cut across demographic groups, household types, and regions. This rise in hardship is due to shrinking incomes and upward pressure on rents caused by growing competition for already-scarce affordable units. Worst case needs rose more sharply between the 2007 American Housing Survey (AHS) and 2009 AHS, both in absolute and percentage terms, than in any previous 2-year period since at least 1985. During this 2007-to-2009 period, the number of renters experiencing worst case needs jumped by more than 20 percent, from 5.91 to 7.10 million.

Given the severely challenged economic conditions that the United States has confronted during the past several years, particularly surrounding the housing market, it is not surprising that the need for housing assistance continues to outpace the ability of federal, state, and local governments to supply it. HUD's Worst Case Housing Needs 2009: Report to Congress examines the causes of and trends in worst case needs for affordable rental housing.

Source: Todd W. McNeil, Cityscape, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2010

From the abstract:
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) is an unprecedented effort to jumpstart the economy, create or save millions of jobs, and address long-neglected challenges. The Recovery Act investments in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs will generate tens of thousands of jobs, modernize homes to make them more energy efficient, and help the families and communities hardest hit by the economic crisis. The Recovery Act includes a $4 billion appropriation for the Public Housing Capital Fund. The Public Housing Capital Fund program is expected to benefit the nation by (1) creating jobs; (2) transforming public housing into energy-efficient, green communities; (3) redeveloping distressed public housing; (4) addressing the needs of public housing residents who are elderly and disabled; and (5) providing funding for public housing projects that lack the private capital to proceed with development.

Source: Breakthroughs, Vol. 8 no. 4, July 2009

Median home prices in Fairfax County, Virginia are out of reach for many low- and moderate-income households. The 2007 median market value of owned homes in Fairfax County, Virginia was $536,162, and the average rental complex rent in 2007 was $1,317. Essential county employees, such as firefighters, police, and teachers, are unable to buy or rent a home near their workplace, forcing them to commute long distances. To create and preserve affordable housing for its workforce, Fairfax County has adopted a number of programs and initiatives. This article focuses on one such unique program, known as the Magnet Housing Program.

Source: Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2009

From the press release:
The housing downturn hit low-income minorities especially hard. With unemployment rates sharply higher among minorities, minority households are more likely than others to spend more than half of their incomes on housing. Also, higher shares of minorities live in neighborhoods with elevated foreclosure rates and where house prices fell the most.

Meanwhile, the number and share of households spending more than half their incomes on housing continues to remain at elevated levels. Before the economy began to shed jobs in 2008 and 2009, the number of households with such severe cost burdens, in 2007, stood at 18 million, up from 14 million, in 2001. Although renters are more cost burdened than homeowners, the most rapid growth in households with housing burdens, during the decade, occurred among owners.

Even though present housing challenges are legion--including still soaring foreclosures, millions of homeowners stuck in homes worth less than the amount they owe on their mortgage, and falling rental property values--the State of the Nation's Housing report concludes that the demographic moorings of future demand remain strong. The largest generation in American history will be reaching young adulthood in record numbers over the next decade. As a result, even under a set of household projections that assume annual immigration falls some 40 percent below the average of the first half of this decade to just half of U.S. Census Bureau immigration projections, household growth from 2010-2020 should still rival the solid performance in the 1995-2005 period. Even if immigration slows considerably, minorities will still account for about three-quarters of household growth.
See also:
- SON 2009 Fact Sheet
- SON 2009 Appendix Tables (Microsoft Excel)
- SON 2009 Sources (Microsoft Excel)
- SON Archive