In the Media

Separately, millions more renters are "on the brink of eviction," the Harvard researchers found. Census data show that 6 million households are still behind on rent and could face eviction at the end of June, when federal eviction protections expire.

The housing market may be hotter than ever, but not everyone is reaping the benefits. A report Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) released on June 16 found that inequalities that existed before the pandemic are persisting and policymakers need to take action to ensure those affected don’t fall even farther behind.

“The short story is that we simply haven’t been producing enough housing,” said Daniel McCue, with the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard.

“Millions of households were financially unscathed coming out of the pandemic,” said Alexander Hermann, senior research analyst at the Joint Center for Housing Studies. “But the pandemic has left millions of others struggling to make their housing payments, especially lower-income households and people of color.”

“The unprecedented events of 2020 both exposed and amplified the impacts of unequal access to decent, affordable housing,” researchers at Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University wrote.

The top-line facts are striking. Home buying is up to the highest rate seen since the peak of the housing boom in 2006. And the number of people unable to either buy a home or spend less than a third of their income on housing is near a historic high.

Home prices went up by double digits in 85 of the 100 largest metro areas, creating wealth that propped up existing owners, said Daniel McCue, a senior research associate at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, the pandemic year has been a "boon" for the home remodeling market, with a projected market spending of $433 billion in 2021.

Renter households are more likely than owner households to have a member with a disability, according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

It’s like sedimentary rock,” says Chris Herbert, the managing director of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies. “There’s never really been a time when we sat down and said, ‘Let’s think about a coherent U.S. housing policy.’”