In the Media

Prior to the pandemic, researchers at Harvard reported that “nearly half of all renter households (spent) more than 30% of their incomes on rent and utilities each month.” (Underscoring the essential nature of shelter, their article is entitled “The Rent Eats First.”)

There are also more renters looking for housing—981,000 more at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021—creating extremely low vacancy rates of 5.8%, the lowest since the mid-1980s, according to a recent report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

A significant percent of seniors (41% between 65 and 79 and 71% aged 80 and older, according to the Harvard University Joint Center for Housing Studies), have physical conditions that necessitate accessibility features that can be used by any individual of any age or ability.

A study by Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies predicts that by 2038 there will be 18 million households with people over the age of 80. More than half of them will live alone, too.

Growth in spending on home improvements and repairs is expected to peak in 2022 with expenditures reaching $427 billion in the third quarter, up 20% year-over-year, according to a report by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

“Although home remodeling is expected to accelerate broadly across top metros, ongoing shortages and rising costs of labor and building materials may dampen activity in the coming year,” Carlos Martín, project director for the Remodeling Futures Program, said in a news release.

Those kinds of replacement projects make up about half of home improvement spending, according to Abbe Will, who follows the industry at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. She projects that home improvement spending will grow 17% this year nationally, partly driven by inflation. The long-term average is about 5%.

Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, lead author of a recent report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, said there was a lot of “pent-up demand” after the initial months of the pandemic, when many young people moved back home with their parents.

Abbe Will, senior research associate at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, tells Bloomberg Radio's Denise Pellegrini to watch for a world of uncertainty and possible pain if you're embarking on a home improvement project this year.

However, there are still a lot of Americans who can't afford to move because of the rising cost of mortgages, rents, and the ongoing pandemic, said Riordan Frost, a research analyst at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. "There's an assumption that most Americans have figured it all out, but that's totally not the case," said Frost, who's written extensively about where Americans have moved during the pandemic.