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July 24, 2024

Housing and the American Worker

As the American Worker Project analysis shows, real wages have increased over time. Real wages are nominal wages corrected for changes in the price level, and a natural approach to understanding the way in which housing policy affects real wages is through (housing) prices. But the importance of housing to the economic well-being of the typical American…

May 7, 2024

How Zoning Policies Affect the Housing Supply: City of Denver Case Study

Summary:The City of Denver switched to a new zoning code in June 2010. Most areas were upzoned, but some were downzoned. Overall, the policy encouraged housing construction in Denver. Slide deck 

May 6, 2024

Comments on the One Seattle Plan (Comp Plan)

Summary:1) Seattle has been underbuilding for the last decade (and likely even longer) and it needs to build more housing than the targets set in the comp plan.2) Seattle can legalize the building of more housing by embracing the lessons of its past and expanding on them. During the 1990s, Seattle upzoned parts of the…

March 27, 2024

Market-oriented Reform Principles and Policies that Would Help the Housing Market

Introduction: In this election year, Congress and the President are feeling the urge to help Americans affected by rising housing affordability pressures across the country. With the status-quo untenable, Congress and the President are itching to address housing affordability, availability, and other community needs. Before springing into action, our leaders need to first establish clear…

March 15, 2024

Housing Abundance with Light-Touch Density

Executive Summary: The following presentation on “Communication with Policymakers and Media – For the Win!” was presented at YIMBYtown 2024, covering how Light-touch Density is the key to achieving housing abundance. Light-touch Density, which involves moderately increasing density in areas zoned exclusively for single-family detached homes, can tailored be to the context of specific localities….

September 21, 2023

National Home Price Appreciation (HPA) Index—August 2023

PDF to full report  Key takeaways: To view more data on HPA and months supply, please visit our interactive.

September 12, 2023

Housing Finance Watch (Week 35 & 36, 2023)

PDF to full report  Key takeaways:

July 21, 2023

National Home Price Appreciation (HPA) Index—June 2023

PDF to full report  Key takeaways: To view more data on HPA and months supply, please visit our interactive.

June 7, 2023

The Effect of Relaxing Local Housing Market Regulations on Federal Rental Assistance Programs

Abstract The majority of U.S. households that qualify for federal rental housing assistance do not receive it. In the absence of an entitlement to housing assistance, an underexplored cause of the shortfall is that higher rents in some areas driven by supply-constraining local regulations increase program costs, leaving fewer funds available to serve additional families….