House under construction

Housing Perspectives

Subscribe

Research, trends, and perspective from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies

Our Top 10 Blogs of 2024

| Alicia Doyon

Record-high housing unaffordability, the role of immigration in housing costs, construction industry challenges, and more: our most popular blogs of 2024 explored a range of housing issues facing our nation. 

  1. In Home Price-to-Income Ratio Reaches Record High, Alexander Hermann explains that the median price-to-income ratio for a single-family home in 2022 was higher than at any point on record dating back to the early 1970s. Alex’s blog with Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, Nora Cahill, and Peyton Whitney exploring policies and programs addressing the housing needs of middle-income renters was also among our most popular of 2024. 

  2. The Role of the Recent Immigrant Surge in Housing Costs by Riordan Frost showed that the timing of the recent surge in immigration does not line up with the high growth in both rents and home prices that happened at the start of the pandemic. Two additional blogs from Riordan on record levels of homelessness and millennials moving to the suburbs (co-written by Whitney Airgood-Obrycki) were also popular this year. 

  3. Six Takeaways from America’s Rental Housing 2024 by Whitney Airgood-Obrycki and Sophia Wedeen summarized key findings from our report exploring the critical affordability and policy challenges facing the nation. In another popular blog, Whitney explored how the rapid increase in cost burdens since the start of the pandemic accelerated a much longer-term trend of rents outpacing incomes.  

  4. Estimating the National Housing Shortfall by Daniel McCue and Sophie Huang outlines the varying methodologies used by the National Association of Home Builders, Freddie Mac, and the National Association of Realtors to estimate the US’s housing shortfall. 

  5. More Than 42 Million US Households Were Cost Burdened in 2022 by Peyton Whitney explored the dramatic rise in cost-burdened households in the US during the pandemic and in 2022. 

  6. The Movement for Improving and Expanding Home Repair Programs Enters a New Era by Sophia Wedeen and Carlos Martín discussed inadequate housing conditions across the US and the current landscape of home repair assistance programs. In another popular blog, Sophia explored how high housing costs are consuming household incomes. 

  7. Five Barriers to Greater Use of Manufactured Housing for Entry-Level Homeownership by Chris Herbert discusses the reasons why manufactured home production represents only a fraction of the volume of new single-family homes despite the cost advantages and affordable homeownership opportunities manufactured homes offer. 

  8. What Has Zoning Reform Accomplished in Cambridge, Massachusetts? by Magda Maaoui explores the successes and ongoing challenges of Cambridge’s 100 Percent Affordable Housing Overlay zoning and its lessons for other communities. 

  9. In Older Adults with Moderate Income Cannot Afford the Dual Burden of Housing and Care, Samara Scheckler and Peyton Whitney relayed findings from their studies of the affordability of housing and care services for older adults across 97 metropolitan areas. 

  10. Rebuilding the Construction Trades Workforce by Sophie Huang explores the reasons behind the significant shortage of skilled labor in the construction industry and initiatives aimed at closing the gap.