Acolin, Arthur; Bricker, Jesse; Calem, Paul; Wachter, Susan. (2016). Borrowing Constraints and Homeownership. The American Economic Review, 106(5), 625 – 629.
Keywords
Borrowing Constraints, Homeownership, Credit Supply
Research Theme: Economy & Finance & Development
Includes real estate finance and markets as well as economics and community development, from the scales of the building to the region
A Renter or Homeowner Nation?
Acolin, Arthur; Goodman, Laurie S.; Wachter, Susan M. (2016). A Renter or Homeowner Nation? Cityscape, 18(1), 145 – 158.
First-Time Homebuyers: Toward a New Measure
Acolin, Arthur; Calem, Paul; Jagtiani, Julapa; Wachter, Susan. (2018). First-Time Homebuyers: Toward a New Measure. Cityscape, 20(1), 193 – 204.
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.
Comparing Small Area Fair Market Rents with Other Rental Measures across Diverse Housing Markets
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.
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.]
Who Owns Chinatown: Neighbourhood Preservation and Change in Boston and Philadelphia
Acolin, Arthur; Vitiello, Domenic. (2018). Who Owns Chinatown: Neighbourhood Preservation and Change in Boston and Philadelphia. Urban Studies, 55(8), 1690 – 1710.
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
Hedonic, Residual, and Matching Methods for Residential Land Valuation
Bourassa, Steven C.; Hoesli, Martin. (2022). Hedonic, Residual, and Matching Methods for Residential Land Valuation. Journal Of Housing Economics, 58.
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
Measuring the Housing Sector’s Contribution to GDP in Emerging Market Countries
Acolin, Arthur;hoek-smit, Marja;green, Richard K. (2022). Measuring the Housing Sector’s Contribution to GDP in Emerging Market Countries. International Journal Of Housing Markets And Analysis, 15(5), 977-994.
Abstract
Purpose > This paper aims to document the economic importance of the housing sector, as measured by its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP), which is not fully recognized. In response to the joint economic and health crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an opportunity for emerging market countries to develop and implement inclusive housing strategies that stimulate the economy and improve community health outcomes. However, so far housing does not feature prominently in the recovery plans of many emerging market countries. Design/methodology/approach > This paper uses national account data and informal housing estimates for 11 emerging market economies to estimate the contribution of housing investments and housing services to the GDP of these countries. Findings > This paper finds that the combined contribution of housing investments and housing services represents between 6.9% and 18.5% of GDP, averaging 13.1% in the countries with information about both. This puts the housing sector roughly on par with other key sectors such as manufacturing. In addition, if the informal housing sector is undercounted in the official national account figures used in this analysis by 50% or 100%, for example, then the true averages of housing investments and housing services’ contribution to GDP would increase to 14.3% or 16.1% of GDP, respectively. Research limitations/implications > Further efforts to improve data collection about housing investments and consumption, particularly imputed rent for owner occupiers and informal activity require national government to conduct regular household and housing surveys. Researcher can help make these surveys more robust and leverage new data sources such as scraped housing price and rent data to complement traditional surveys. Better data are needed in order to capture housing contribution to the economy. Practical implications > The size of the housing sector and its impact in terms of employment and community resilience indicate the potential of inclusive housing investments to both serve short-term economic stimulus and increase long-term community resilience. Originality/value > The role of housing in the economy is often limited to housing investment, despite the importance of housing services and well-documented methodologies to include them. This analysis highlights the importance of housing to the economy of emerging market countries (in addition to all the non-GDP related impact of housing on welfare) and indicate data limitation that need to be addressed to further strengthen the case for focusing on housing as part of economic recovery plans.
Keywords
Pandemics; Economic Importance; Investments; Housing; Sanitation; Recovery; International Organizations; Covid-19; Economic Growth; Data Collection; Economic Indicators; Economics; Housing Conditions; Economic Policy; Economic Conditions; Market Economies; Resilience; Low Income Groups; Economic Activity; Consumption; Emerging Markets; Earthquakes; Surveys; Gross Domestic Product--gdp; Coronaviruses; Affordable Housing; Economic Development; Informal Economy; Households; Recovery Plans; Disease Transmission; Africa; South Africa; India
Vince Wang
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.
Transitional Property Rights and Local Developmental History in China
Abramson, Daniel. (2011). Transitional Property Rights and Local Developmental History in China. Urban Studies (sage Publications, Ltd.), 48(3), 553 – 568.
Abstract
Among the societies that are moving from a centrally planned economy with weak property rights towards a market-oriented economy with stronger and more privatised property rights, China is undergoing an especially rapid and extensive urbanisation that obscures the diversity and relevance of local pre-Reform property arrangements. Official discourse emphasises the formalisation, clarification and, to some extent, the privatisation of property rights in the name of overall societal development and gradual integration with the global economy. In local informal, popular practice and discourse, however, the invocation of property rights reflects the continuing political relevance of both revolutionary and traditional notions of rights to urban space that challenge a unitary, linear view of the development process.
Keywords
Property Rights; History Of Economic Development; Central Economic Planning; Privatization; Urbanization; History; Social Policy; China
The Cloud beneath the Clouds
Vitro, Kristen A.; Whittington, Jan. (2015). The Cloud beneath the Clouds. Planning, 81(1), 35 – 35.
Abstract
The article discusses the proliferation of cloud computing data centers in Seattle, Washington. It also discusses the reasons behind the selection of the city by cloud computing data centers as site locations which include the availability of inexpensive but abundant sources of electricity, classification of dams as a critical infrastructure, and cooler climate. Another reason discussed is the planning and economic development practiced by municipalities to attract businesses in the area.
Keywords
Cloud Computing; Server Farms (computer Network Management); Industrial Location; Infrastructure (economics); Urban Planning; Economic Development; Seattle (wash.); Washington (state)