Acolin, Arthur; Wachter, Susan. (2017). Opportunity and Housing Access. Cityscape, 19(1), 135 – 150.
View Publication
Abstract
This article examines the relationship between employment opportunity and housing affordability. Access to locations with high-productivity jobs is increasingly limited by regional housing affordability barriers. Recent articles demonstrate a new regional divergence in access to high-productivity regions accompanied by declines in worker mobility associated with affordability barriers. We update these findings and discuss their long-term implications for economic opportunity and intergenerational welfare. We show that areas, from which lower-income households are increasingly priced out, are also more likely to have higher levels of intergenerational mobility. Access to opportunity also continues to be challenged within metropolitan areas as the gentrification of downtown neighborhoods is accompanied by an increase in concentrated poverty in outlying city neighborhoods and inner ring suburbs. These trends on regional and local scales derive from the increased importance of place in the knowledge-based economy and interact to reinforce growing spatial inequality. We conclude with a discussion of the importance of identifying place-based solutions to counter growing spatial inequality of opportunity.]
Acolin, Arthur; Bricker, Jesse; Calem, Paul; Wachter, Susan. (2016). Borrowing Constraints and Homeownership. The American Economic Review, 106(5), 625 – 629.
View Publication
Keywords
Borrowing Constraints, Homeownership, Credit Supply
Acolin, Arthur; Goodman, Laurie S.; Wachter, Susan M. (2016). A Renter or Homeowner Nation? Cityscape, 18(1), 145 – 158.
View Publication
Acolin, Arthur; Calem, Paul; Jagtiani, Julapa; Wachter, Susan. (2018). First-Time Homebuyers: Toward a New Measure. Cityscape, 20(1), 193 – 204.
View Publication
Abstract
Existing data sources show divergent estimates of the number of homes purchased by first-time homebuyers as a share of all home purchases. In this article, we use a new dataset to construct a time series of the share of first-time homebuyers. This series, based on the Federal Reserve Bank of New York Equifax Consumer Credit Panel, shows a significant decline in the share of first-time homebuyers, particularly among young households, consistent with the decline in homeownership in this age cohort since the early 2000s.
Hess, Christian; Walter, Rebecca J.; Acolin, Arthur; Chasins, Sarah. (2019). Comparing Small Area Fair Market Rents with Other Rental Measures across Diverse Housing Markets. Cityscape, 21(3), 159 – 186.
View Publication
Abstract
Small Area Fair Market Rents (SAFMRs) are calculated at the 40th percentile of the U.S. postal ZIP Code instead of the metropolitan area in an effort to capture localized rents to expand choice for voucher holders to access housing in higher-opportunity neighborhoods. Existing studies on the potential and actual outcomes of SAFMRs demonstrate that findings vary for different types of housing markets. Furthermore, the decisions public housing authorities (PHAs) make in the implementation process affect PHAs' program budget and the rent burden and locational outcomes for voucher households. This study aims to address how these implementation factors are affected by local rental market conditions for three PHAs-Housing Authority of the City of Fort Lauderdale, San Antonio Housing Authority, and Seattle Housing Authority-in diverse housing markets. By comparing different sources of market rent estimates with SAFMRs in each location, we contribute new information about how this rule is likely to produce different residential outcomes in terms of increased access to low-poverty neighborhoods and adjustments to payment standards in low-rent neighborhoods. The findings reveal differences across rent measures in terms of estimated levels and relative differences across ZIP Codes. These findings suggest that housing authorities may face challenges in meeting the objectives of the SAFMR final rule without some form of local adjustments.]
Acolin, Arthur; Vitiello, Domenic. (2018). Who Owns Chinatown: Neighbourhood Preservation and Change in Boston and Philadelphia. Urban Studies, 55(8), 1690 – 1710.
View Publication
Abstract
The survival of Chinatowns and other ethnic enclaves in cities is largely determined by who owns property. Ethnic enclaves such as Chinatowns have traditionally played important economic, social and cultural functions as places for recent immigrants to live and work, though Chinatowns have long faced redevelopment pressures. In North America, as Chinese immigrants and their descendants settle in the suburbs, and as historic Chinatowns’ locations close to revitalising downtowns attract increasing investment, the future of these historic enclaves is shaped by various, often intense and divergent, forces. This article describes changes in the patterns of property ownership in Boston and Philadelphia’s downtown Chinatowns over the last decade (2003–2013) and relates them to changes and continuities in these neighbourhoods’ population, commercial activities and building stock. The trends we observe simultaneously reinforce and complicate debates about gentrification and longstanding efforts to preserve these Chinatowns as ethnic Chinese residential, commercial, and cultural centres.]
Keywords
Chinatown, Ethnic Enclave, Neighbourhood Change, Ownership
Bourassa, Steven C.; Hoesli, Martin. (2022). Hedonic, Residual, and Matching Methods for Residential Land Valuation. Journal Of Housing Economics, 58.
View Publication
Abstract
• Our first method involves a hedonic model estimated for sales of vacant lots. • Another method depreciates improvements, obtaining land value as a residual. • Our third approach matches the sales of vacant and subsequently developed lots. • This allows us to estimate a hedonic model of land leverage (the ratio of land to total property value) for improved properties. • We conclude that the third approach is the most promising of the three methods. Accurate estimates of land values on a property-by-property basis are an important requirement for the effective implementation of land-based property taxes. We compare hedonic, residual, and matching techniques for mass appraisal of residential land values, using data from Maricopa County, Arizona. The first method involves a hedonic valuation model estimated for transactions of vacant lots. The second approach subtracts the depreciated cost of improvements from the value of improved properties to obtain land value as a residual. The third approach matches the sales of vacant lots with subsequent sales of the same properties once they have been developed. For each pair, we use a land price index to inflate the land price to the time of the improved property transaction and then calculate land leverage (the ratio of land to total property value). A hedonic model is estimated and used to predict land leverage for all improved properties. We conclude that the matching approach is the most promising of the methods considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]; Copyright of Journal of Housing Economics is the property of Academic Press Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Keywords
Hedonic Method; Land Leverage; Land Valuation; Matching Approach; Residual Approach
Acolin, Arthur; Reina, Vincent. (2022). Housing Cost Burden and Life Satisfaction. Journal Of Housing & The Built Environment, 37(4), 1789-1815.
View Publication
Abstract
The share of income that households spent on their housing has been increasing over time in a wide range of countries, particularly among lower income households. In theory, the share of income spent on housing can reflect variations in household preferences for housing consumption but for low-income household, high burdens are likely more reflective of constraints and force these households to face tradeoffs between housing and non-housing consumption that negatively affect their overall life satisfaction. This paper uses data from the 2018 European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) for 14 countries. We find that, controlling for household sociodemographic characteristics, households spending more than 30 percent of their income and those spending more than 50 percent of their income on housing report significantly lower levels of life satisfaction. The estimated relationship is largest for this latter heavily cost burdened group. The negative relationship between housing cost burden and reported life satisfaction is found across countries but varies in magnitude, suggesting that stronger welfare systems may mediate the negative impacts of housing cost burdens, although further research is needed to confirm both this relationship and the precise mechanisms driving it.
Keywords
Life Satisfaction; Income; Housing; Poor Communities; Subjective Well-being (psychology); Living Conditions; European Countries; Housing Cost; Subjective Wellbeing; Economic Hardship; Homeownership; Affordability; Determinants; Cost Analysis; Housing Costs; Households; Consumption; Low Income Groups; Expenditures; Welfare; Sociodemographics
Ruoniu (Vince) Wang is an Assistant Professor in the Runstad Department of Real Estate in the College of Built Environments at the University of Washington. He studies spatial justice and inclusive communities, including their impacts reflected in the built environment, human behaviors, and policy interventions. Vince joined the University of Washington after serving six years as the research manager and director in a national non-profit organization Grounded Solutions Network. He has designed and conducted a U.S. Census of inclusionary housing policies, a U.S. census of community land trusts, and a national performance evaluation of shared equity homeownership programs. His research expands to policy evaluation for the two largest federal assisted housing rental programs in the U.S.: the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and the Housing Choice Voucher program. Vince grounds his research with applied tools to democratize data for low-income communities.
The College of Built Environments launched a funding opportunity for those whose research has been affected by the ongoing pandemic. The Research Restart Fund, with awards up to $5,000, has awarded 4 grants in its first of two cycles. A grant was awarded to Real Estate faculty member Arthur Acolin, who is partnering with the City of Seattle’s Office of Planning and Community Development to understand barriers that homeowners, particularly those with lower incomes, face to building Accessory Dwelling Units…