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Is Housing Unaffordable? Why Isn't It More Affordable?

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Author Info
John M. Quigley
Steven Raphael

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Abstract

This paper reviews trends in housing affordability in the U.S. over the past four decades. There is little evidence that owner-occupied housing has become less affordable. In contrast, there have been modest increases in the fraction of income that the median renter household devotes to housing. We find pronounced increases in the rent burdens for poor households. We explore the low-income rental market in more detail, analyzing the relative importance of changes in the income distribution, in housing quality, land use regulation, and zoning in affecting rent burdens. We also sketch out some policies that might improve housing affordability.

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Article provided by American Economic Association in its journal Journal of Economic Perspectives.

Volume (Year): 18 (2004)
Issue (Month): 1 (Winter)
Pages: 191-214
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Handle: RePEc:aea:jecper:v:18:y:2004:i:1:p:191-214

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Richard B. Freeman, 1994. "Working Under Different Rules," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number free94-1.
  2. Malpezzi, Stephen & Mayo, Stephen K, 1987. "The Demand for Housing in Developing Countries: Empirical Estimates from Household Data," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 35(4), pages 687-721, July.
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  4. Christopher J. Mayer & C. Tsuriel Somerville, . "Land Use Regulation and New Construction," Zell/Lurie Center Working Papers 331, Wharton School Samuel Zell and Robert Lurie Real Estate Center, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Richard Voith, 1999. "Does the federal tax treatment of housing affect the pattern of metropolitan development?," Business Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, issue Mar, pages 3-16. [Downloadable!]
  6. James A. Orr & Richard W. Peach, 1999. "Housing outcomes: an assessment of long-term trends," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Sep, pages 51-61. [Downloadable!]
  7. John M. Quigley & Steven Raphael & Eugene Smolensky, 2001. "Homeless In America, Homeless In California," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(1), pages 37-51, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Rosen, Harvey S & Rosen, Kenneth T & Holtz-Eakin, Douglas, 1984. "Housing Tenure, Uncertainty, and Taxation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 66(3), pages 405-16, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Mayo, Stephen K., 1981. "Theory and estimation in the economics of housing demand," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 95-116, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Donald R. Haurin & Toby L. Parcel & R. Jean Haurin, 2002. "Does Homeownership Affect Child Outcomes?," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 30(4), pages 635-666. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Thorson, James A., 1997. "The Effect of Zoning on Housing Construction," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 81-91, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Albert Saiz, 2003. "Room in the Kitchen for the Melting Pot: Immigration and Rental Prices," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(3), pages 502-521, 05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Stephen Malpezzi, 1994. "Housing Prices, Externalities, and Regulation in U.S. Metropolitan Areas," Wisconsin-Madison CULER working papers 94-08, University of Wisconsin Center for Urban Land Economic Research.
  14. Edward L. Glaeser & Joseph Gyourko, 2003. "The impact of building restrictions on housing affordability," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Jun, pages 21-39. [Downloadable!]
  15. John Quigley, 2006. "A Decent Home: Housing Policy in Perspective," Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy, Working Paper Series 1038, Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy. [Downloadable!]
  16. Sweeney, James L., 1974. "A commodity hierarchy model of the rental housing market," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 288-323, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Richard K. Green & Stephen Malpezzi & Stephen K. Mayo, 2005. "Metropolitan-Specific Estimates of the Price Elasticity of Supply of Housing, and Their Sources," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 334-339, May. [Downloadable!]
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  18. Mayo, Stephen & Sheppard, Stephen, 1996. "Housing Supply under Rapid Economic Growth and Varying Regulatory Stringency: An International Comparison," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 274-289, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. DiPasquale, Denise & Glaeser, Edward L., 1999. "Incentives and Social Capital: Are Homeowners Better Citizens?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 354-384, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  20. Stephen Malpezzi & Richard K. Green, 1995. "What’s Happened to the Bottom of the Housing Market?," Wisconsin-Madison CULER working papers 95-16, University of Wisconsin Center for Urban Land Economic Research.
  21. Green, Richard K., 1999. "Land Use Regulation and the Price of Housing in a Suburban Wisconsin County," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 144-159, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  22. David Card, 1990. "The impact of the Mariel boatlift on the Miami labor market," Industrial and Labor Relations Review, ILR Review, ILR School, Cornell University, vol. 43(2), pages 245-257, January.
    Other versions:
Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Buckley, Robert M. & Kalarickal, Jerry, 2004. "Shelter strategies for the urban poor : idiosyncratic and successful, but hardly mysterious," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3427, The World Bank. [Downloadable!]
  2. Jordan Rappaport, 2008. "The affordability of homeownership to middle-income Americans," Economic Review, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue Q IV, pages 65-95. [Downloadable!]
  3. Sherry A. Glied, 2008. "Mandates and the Affordability of Health Care," NBER Working Papers 14545, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Elias Oikarinen, 2008. "Empirical application of the housing-market no-arbitrage condition: problems, solutions and a Finnish case study," Discussion Papers 39, Aboa Centre for Economics. [Downloadable!]
  5. Briggs, Xavier, 2004. "Traps and Stepping Stones: Neighborhood Dynamics and Family Well-Being," Working Paper Series rwp04-015, Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government. [Downloadable!]
  6. Andrea Finicelli, 2007. "House price developments and fundamentals in the United States," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 7, Bank of Italy, Economic Research Department. [Downloadable!]
  7. Katherine Cuff and Nicolas Marceau, 2007. "Tenancy Default, Excess Demand and the Rental Market," Department of Economics Working Papers 2007-08, McMaster University. [Downloadable!]
  8. Janna L. Matlack & Jacob L. Vigdor, 2006. "Do Rising Tides Lift All Prices? Income Inequality and Housing Affordability," NBER Working Papers 12331, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Alicia Sasser & Bo Zhao & Darcy Rollins & Robert Tannenwald, 2006. "The lack of affordable housing in New England: how big a problem?: why is it growing?: what are we doing about it?," New England Public Policy Center Working Paper 06-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. [Downloadable!]
  10. Davis, Morris & Heathcote, Jonathan, 2005. "The Price and Quantity of Residential Land in the United States," CEPR Discussion Papers 5333, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. József Hegedüs, & Natalia Rogozhina & Eszter Somogyi & Raymond Struyk & Andrey Tumanov, 2004. "Potential Effects Of Subsidy Programmes On Housing Affordability: The Cases Of Budapest And Moscow," European Journal of Housing Policy, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 151-184, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Erica Greulich & John Quigley & Steven Raphael, 2006. "The Anatomy of Rent Burdens: Immigration, Growth and Rental Housing," Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy, Working Paper Series 1049, Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy. [Downloadable!]
  13. Katherine Cuff & Nicolas Marceau, 2007. "Equilibrium Excess Demand in the Rental Housing Market (revised)," Cahiers de recherche 0744, CIRPEE. [Downloadable!]
  14. Quan Gan & Robert J. Hill, 2008. "Measuring Housing Affordability: Looking Beyond the Median," Discussion Papers 2008-09, School of Economics, The University of New South Wales. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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