In the media

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Our research is regularly cited in national and local news outlets; below is some of our recent press coverage.

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Bloomberg

US Renters Face Storm of Rising Costs

Despite one of the more substantial surges of new apartment construction in decades, the benefits of growing supply have not trickled down to the most cost-burdened renters in the US. That’s the conclusion of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, which this week released its annual State of the Nation’s Housing Report, one of the most in-depth studies linking housing costs and renter incomes.

USA Today

America's housing is pulling further out of reach, report finds

A new report from one of the nation’s premiere housing research groups confirms what many of us already know: residential real estate is pulling further away from ordinary Americans, becoming more expensive, less attainable, and increasingly stymying efforts to make a market that works for everyone. The State of the Nation’s Housing 2025, from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, lays out the numbers in stark detail.

Newsweek

Harvard's Housing Market Study Flags Worrying Trends—'Shocking'

The housing affordability crisis that has been keeping the dream of homeownership out of reach for millions of Americans over the past few years is unlikely to ease "anytime soon," according to a new report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The State of the Nation's Housing 2025 found that sky-high home prices—which are still rising at the national level—historically elevated mortgage rates, and rising home insurance premiums and property taxes are still keeping Americans on the sidelines of the market, despite growing inventory.

Fast Company

The American starter home is shrinking

In 2024, for the third straight year, the median size of a new single-family home in the U.S. has shrunk, to 2,150 square feet. That’s down from nearly 2,500 square feet back in 2013, and startlingly close to the roughly 2,100 square foot average seen in 2009 at the depth of the global financial crisis. It’s a downsizing that underscores just how hard it is for most people to afford to buy a home today, and the extent to which homebuilders are adjusting their offerings to meet demand. This telling figure comes from The State of the Nation’s Housing, an annual report just released by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

The New York Times

Who’s More Likely to D.I.Y.?

“Lower-income householders are often cash strapped,” said Sophia Wedeen, a senior research analyst with the Joint Center. “The fact that they’re investing so much less in dollars but spending more of their incomes is certainly reinforcing inequities in housing conditions and finances.” The calculations also considered race and ethnicity, household composition and other traits, but of the homeowner characteristics evaluated, Ms. Wedeen noted, income is a main driver of spending.

The Boston Globe

Want to Understand Why the Massachusetts Housing Market Is Broken? Look at This Chart.

Economists consider the ratio of home prices to incomes to be a reliable indicator of the state of a housing market. Typically, a house-price-to-income ratio of three — a median household income of $100,000 and median home price of $300,000, for instance — is seen as healthy. In Greater Boston in 2023, that ratio was 6.3, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, more than double that healthy rate.

Fortune Magazine

The American Dream Is No Longer Buying a House—It’s Paying Off Debt

U.S. home prices have far outpaced wages, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. The current median home price in the U.S. is more than $403,000, NAR data shows, while the Social Security Administration reports the national average wage index is about $66,600.

Marketplace

An Economic Insecurity Story

Over the past three decades, the share of homeowners ages 65 to 79 with a mortgage rose from 24% to 41%, while median mortgage debt surged by 400%, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. Among homeowners 80 years and older, the numbers are even more dramatic. The share with mortgages jumped from 3% to 31%, and median mortgage debt increased by 750%. “For a lot of people, I think this isn’t a choice. It isn’t a financial strategy. It’s more of a reality,” said Jennifer Molinsky, director of the Housing an Aging Society Program at Harvard’s Joint Center.

USA Today

The Housing Market Needs More Small Homes. Here's Why That's Unlikely to Happen.

Chris Herbert is managing director for the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies, a think tank whose signature annual publication, the State of the Nation’s Housing, documents the challenges in the market. “When the top line numbers say we need to have more units, it gets a lot of attention, as it should,” Herbert said. “But I think the attention needs to be focused on the fact that it's not just any old units, but smaller ones that we need,”