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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WBUR

Could ‘boommates’ help ease the housing crisis?

High housing costs are pushing more Americans to find roommates, including baby boomers and empty nesters. Jennifer Molinsky, director of the Housing and Aging Society Program at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, discusses this trend on the radio program, On Point.

NPR

Do you rent? You may be more vulnerable to climate-driven disasters

“[It’s] the fundamental sin in our disaster policy in this country, that everything is based on property and possession,” says Carlos Martín, a housing and climate researcher at Harvard University. Many renters have less wealth, and receive less government assistance after disasters, than homeowners, and suffer more severe and long-term financial impacts as a result, he explains. “It compounds these differences between the landed-gentry haves and the rest of the country that are have-nots.”

The Washington Post

More of America’s homeless are clocking into jobs each day

A record 12.1 million Americans — or about 1 in 4 renters — are spending at least half of their incomes on rent and utilities, putting them at increased risk of eviction and homelessness, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Meanwhile, there is hardly anywhere in the country where a person working a full-time minimum-wage job can afford a one-bedroom rental, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

The New York Times

Who Is Driving Rental Demand? Hint: It’s Not Millennials Anymore

The median U.S. home sale price hit a record high in July, according to Redfin, keeping more people, especially younger Americans, in rentals. And now there’s a new generation leading the rental pack, according to a report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University: Generation Z.

Yahoo Finance

Homeowner remodeling to pick back up in 2025: Harvard study

Homeowner remodeling spending has declined since 2022, however, a new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University expects it to pick up in 2025. Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies associate director of the remodeling futures program Abbe Will joins Wealth! to discuss the projection and how homeowners are managing the housing market.

The Boston Globe

The magic number to afford a home in Boston? $217,000 in annual income.

The median price of a single-family house in the Boston metropolitan area soared 40 percent over the past five years, according to March 2024 data from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. (The median is the price at which half the homes are more expensive and half are less.)

BBC

Biden announces plan to cap rent hikes

Nationwide, rent prices have risen by 21% since January 2021, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis. Home prices are on the rise, too.
In early 2024, home prices hit an all-time record, rising 6.4% from February 2023 to 2024, according to a new report from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

The Wall Street Journal

Evictions Surge in Major Cities in the American Sunbelt

Higher rents mean that even temporary income losses can be too much for tenants to ride out: About a quarter of renter households in America spend 50% or more of their income on housing, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.