New ACS data show US household mobility hit another record low in 2024, driven by homeowners staying put amid high prices & rates—especially younger owners. In my @harvard-jchs.bsky.social post, I unpack the data and reflect on what may have happened in 2025: www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/househo...

Household mobility fell to its lowest rate on record in 2024, with just over 1 in 10 households moving. Homeowners drove the decline as they faced high interest rates and home prices, while renter mobility stayed flat. @riordanfrost.bsky.social www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/househo...

In 2024, immigrants accounted for more than half of construction-trade workers in Texas, but the raids occurring now are netting not only immigrants in the country illegally, but those with legal authorization, builders said. @riordanfrost.bsky.social www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Live now: our Gramlich fellow Zack Lively shares his research on how limited equity cooperatives can preserve or create permanently affordable housing. Video + slides from today's event will be posted on our website later today. www.jchs.harvard.edu/calendar/ris...

No state in the country is immune to severe weather risk, and 18 million rental units nationwide are under threat from environmental hazard. www.jchs.harvard.edu/calendar/ris...

Live now: Gramlich Fellow Ariella Amit presents her research on rising property insurance rates for affordable multifamily housing. In 2024, 85% of those in the @neighborworks.bsky.social network experienced an increase in property insurance.

Still time to register & join us! Today @ 12:15 pm ET: Our 2025 Gramlich Fellows will discuss the rising cost of property insurance for multifamily housing and efforts to develop limited equity cooperatives to preserve or create permanently affordable housing. mailchi.mp/harvard/toda...

“As housing costs continue to climb, households are facing affordability pressures in record numbers.” www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/housing... By @harvard-jchs.bsky.social’s @pjwhit.bsky.social

Join us tomorrow (Friday, February 5) at 12:15 pm ET!

Average homeowners insurance premiums rose almost 25% from 2019 to 2024 in real terms. Such costs have contributed to a slump in the condo market, with prices at a decade low. @bloomberg.com @stevekoller.bsky.social shorturl.at/Gvss9

As affordability continues to deteriorate, the number of cost-burdened households in the US rose to record highs in 2024, with 43.5 million households spending over 30% of their income on housing, and 21.6 million spending over half. @pjwhit.bsky.social www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/housing...

What does it mean to age in place & who has the option to do so? In an @mitagelab.bsky.social event on Feb 27, our @samarascheckler.bsky.social will discuss the barriers that limit options, who is at risk for encountering them, and policies to expand options for all older adults. shorturl.at/UOAp1

This Fri, Feb 6, our Gramlich Fellows will discuss the rising cost of property insurance for multifamily housing, as well as efforts to develop limited equity cooperatives to preserve or create permanently affordable housing. mailchi.mp/harvard/2025...

Breaking News: The U.S. population grew last year at one of the slowest rates in history. The immigration numbers plunged by more than 50% from the previous year, under the aggressive anti-immigration policies of President Trump, according to the Census Bureau.

Homeowners are spending big on renovations, but they’re losing momentum. Total spending on home improvements and maintenance is expected to hit $522 billion by the end of 2026, even as growth slows from 2.9% in early 2026 to 1.6% by year-end. @rdcnews.bsky.social www.realtor.com/advice/home-...

According to our new LIRA, released today, single-family home sales and permitting activity have picked up modestly from very low levels, which should support a nominal increase in remodeling activity this year. www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/remodel...

“Despite this bit of good news, many housing challenges remain. The number of households experiencing worst case housing needs remains near record highs.” www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/worst-c... via @harvard-jchs.bsky.social

Our latest Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA) projects that year-over-year growth in home renovation and repair spending will be 2.9 percent early this year before easing to 1.6 percent growth by the end of the year. www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/remodel...

In an episode of the podcast Housing After Dark, @alexschafran.bsky.social sits down with our former postdoc @magdamaaoui.bsky.social to unpack what the U.S. can learn from France’s approach to housing. @gsd.harvard.edu open.spotify.com/episode/1gY0...

Home additions represent one answer to the pent-up demand among people who want to move but have not, in a housing market that’s been characterized by sluggish inventory, high prices and elevated interest rates for the past three years. @washingtonpost.com www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

"Nationally, immigrants play a disproportionate role in the construction trades workforce," says @riordanfrost.bsky.social. "They’re about one in five workers nationally in the overall labor force, but they’re about one in three construction trades workers." www.msn.com/en-us/news/o...

1/ According to a new HUD report, in 2023, rising renter incomes and expanded rental assistance modestly reduced the number of renter households with worst case needs. This marked the first decrease in worst case needs since 2017 following steep increases. @airbrycki.bsky.social

Where did the rule that people shouldn't spend more than 30% of their income on housing come from, and is it still relevant? @hannahgrabenstein.bsky.social @pbsnews.org talks to our managing director Chris Herbert & @hatethegamebook.com. youtu.be/QI8PUjxs0lo?...

In Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, which led the nation in homebuilding permits between 2019–2023 at 350,000, 61% of the workers in the trades had immigrated to the country. @riordanfrost.bsky.social chicagoagentmagazine.com/2026/01/14/i...

Our quarterly Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity (LIRA), scheduled to be released today, has been postponed due to delays in data from the US Census Bureau. It will be released on Monday, January 26, 2026. us7.campaign-archive.com?e=__test_ema...

"Solo ager" is a newer term for people who are getting older and living alone, without kids or a spouse. The passé label is "elder orphans," a phrase that conjures a hard-knock life and illustrates the kind of condescension people in this group have to deal with. www.dwell.com/article/solo...

For many renters, programs like SNAP and Medicaid are critical to make ends meet. Funding cuts will exacerbate the consequences of unaffordable housing, especially for lower-income households, families with children, and those headed by an older adult. www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/federal...

Domestic migration—people moving across state lines—has slowed down significantly from the pandemic, when the number of Americans relocating around the country surged due to the rise of remote work and a nationwide homebuying frenzy. @newsweek.com www.newsweek.com/map-shows-st...

The home building industry relies heavily on the work of immigrants, with foreign-born workers making up 1 in 3 workers in the construction trades. And in metros where home building is more prevalent, the demand for foreign-born workers is even stronger. www.probuilder.com/business-man...

As the housing crisis heightens, new research shows that design competitions are opening the door to innovative solutions that can promote public engagement, create trust in government-led efforts, and build capacity in the public and private sectors. www.forbes.com/sites/jennif...?

5 years ago, a household needed $126,519 a year to afford the median home in Boston. Today, it has more than doubled to $259,648. People who 5 years ago would have been able to purchase a home — teachers, nurses, and academics — can now hardly even conceive of it. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/12/26/b...

Happy #MapMonday! In top homebuilding metros, immigrants play a major role in supplying housing. Check out this bubble map (size = building permits, color = foreign-born share of the construction trades) in my latest @harvard-jchs.bsky.social blog: www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/homebui...

Immigrants play a key role in the supply of homebuilding and remodeling labor and the recent slowdown in immigration could worsen chronic labor shortages and constrain the ability to build and remodel housing, writes @rickriordan.bsky.social. www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/homebui...

Soaring home prices, rising costs for homeowners and renters, and a new social housing movement: In case you missed them, our top blogs of this year examined persistent housing challenges in the US and opportunities for reforms. www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/our-top...

Looking for a good book to dig into over the holidays? Once again this year, our staff shared the books, shows, podcasts, and other content they loved in 2025. www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/our-fav...

For over 60 years, we have traced how people live, what housing works and what doesn’t, and when smart policy can widen the circle of opportunity. Thank you to A. Krista Sykes @gsd.harvard.edu for capturing our center's past, present, and future so thoughtfully. www.gsd.harvard.edu/2025/12/hist...

Today @ 3pm ET - How Communities Layer Resources to Prevent Homelessness: leaders will share how their communities are using a continuum of support and resources to help people stay housed and how eviction prevention programs fit in. @hsph.harvard.edu mailchi.mp/harvard/prev...

Our updated projections show 6.9 million new households in a low-immigration scenario, compared to 8.6 million with average immigration. @dmccue.bsky.social @housingwire.com.web.brid.gy www.housingwire.com/articles/low...

Thank you to the @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social for a deep dive on our center, its history, and the role we play in addressing the country's "wicked problem" of housing. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

For people with modest incomes, the 30% rule isn't bad, but for very poor or very wealthy people, the rule is less useful. “If I’m Jeff Bezos, I could probably spend 99.9% of my income on housing and still have enough left over for everything else,” says Chris Herbert. www.pbs.org/newshour/eco...

Because administrative actions have led immigration to drop to much lower levels than previously expected, we have published an addendum to our recent homeownership and household growth projections. www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/revised...

Tomorrow (12/16) at 1pm ET: Join our friends @hsph.harvard.edu for Criminalizing the Streets, an event examining the growing shift toward the criminalization of homelessness and its consequences for public health, human rights, and community safety. harvard.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

Happy #MapMonday! Rural home prices soared after the pandemic, by 36% in non-metro counties and fully 47% in vacation counties from 2020–2023, per new work from my @harvard-jchs.bsky.social colleagues @aherm.bsky.social & @pjwhit.bsky.social. www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/home-pr...

With partial funding from our center, @gsd.harvard.edu professor Eve Blau disusses the challenges of rebuilding Ukraine, and how architecture, urban design, and planning can respond under conditions of profound instability and change. www.harvarddesignmagazine.org/articles/ukr...

Excited to release our new paper today with my colleague @pjwhit.bsky.social. We examine what types of rural areas had the fastest home price appreciation in the pandemic era. 🧵 www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/home-pr...

A new paper finds that home prices in rural areas increased 36.1% between 2020-2023, but in counties with a high share of vacation and second homes, prices rose even faster at 46.8%. @aherm.bsky.social @pjwhit.bsky.social www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/home-pr...

A new @landpolicy.bsky.social report analyzed 500 urban counties where data was the most robust, and found that 8.9% of residential parcels are owned by corporations. It also identifies 25 county hot spots that have the highest rates of corporate ownership. www.lincolninst.edu/publications...

New blog post on renters and property insurance. Many renters possess no property insurance whatsover, which can influence housing recovery after storms, fires, etc. In response to rising property insurance costs, many landlords have also raised rents and/or deferred maintenance. More in post 👇

41% of the nation’s rental stock (over 18 million units) are in counties considered high-risk by FEMA. Gaps in property insurance and disaster recovery programs leave renters physically and financially vulnerable when disasters strike. @stevekoller.bsky.social www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/renters...

Our housing design fellow Aaron Smithson looked at six CBOs that used off-site construction to build housing. Across most of the projects, factory building cut timelines, lowered development costs, or both compared with conventional construction. @rdcnews.bsky.social www.realtor.com/advice/buy/f...