Our Research

Types of Analysis

Topic

Date Range

The Politics of Housing: Rent Freezes and the 50-year Mortgage

Our analysis of The American National Election Studies data shows renters lean decisively left, while homeowners lean right. Recent proposals—Mamdani's rent freeze and Trump's 50 year mortgage—speak to this divide. Unfortunately, neither will meaningfully address housing affordability, which is rooted in income inequality.

Identifying Undervalued ZIPs

The strongest and most consistent predictor of home prices is local incomes. Where incomes are high, so are prices—and when incomes rise in a given area, home prices usually follow. The strong price-income relationship provides a foundation for identifying over- and undervalued geographies: those with unusually low prices relative to local incomes may be poised for appreciation.

Searching for Coastal Bargains

Whether driven by practical retirement planning or pure voyeuristic curiosity about the ultra-wealthy's seaside compounds, we've mapped out the entire spectrum of American coastal real estate—from the surprisingly affordable to the astronomically expensive.

Credit Drove 125 Year of Homeownership Gains

Using over 100 million household records from census microdata and quarterly housing surveys, we trace American homeownership from 47% in 1900 to its peak of 69% in 2004, and back down to 65% today. The major jumps in homeownership have come not from building more homes, but from financial engineering—making mortgages cheaper and more accessible to marginal borrowers.

Why is Housing so Expensive?

YIMBYs are riding a wave of policy momentum, as zoning reforms and other tools become increasingly popular tools to address housing affordability. The logic behind these measures is appealing: boosting housing supply should help tame rising prices. But while rezoning can inject new housing stock into urban centers, evidence suggests local income levels are a more significant driver of housing prices than supply. An analysis of household income versus home prices across counties confirms a robust correlation.

Deporting Undocumented Workers Will Make Housing More Expensive

If President Trump makes good on his promise to deport millions of undocumented workers, homes will become substantially more expensive.

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