Harvard’s 2018 State of the Nation’s Housing Report

Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies recently released their annual State of the Housing Report – released annually since 1988.  They report that over 40 million housing units have been built over the past 30 years, accommodating 27 million new households, replacing older homes, and improving the quality of the nation’s housing stock.

Among their findings:

“Homeownership rates among young adults are even lower than in 1988, and the share of cost-burdened renters is significantly higher, with almost half of all renters paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing. Soaring housing costs are largely to blame. The national median rent rose 20 percent faster than overall inflation between 1990 and 2016 and the median home price rose 41 percent faster. While better housing quality accounts for some of the increased costs, higher costs for building materials and labor, limited productivity gains, increased land costs, new regulatory barriers, and growing income inequality all played major roles as well.”

Click here to read the summary

Click here to read the full report.