In the media

Newspaper, phone, and a coffee cup

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

To be added to our media list, or if you have an interview request, please contact [email protected] and include your name, press affiliation, phone number, questions/topic, and your deadline. Please do not email our researchers directly. 

(For copyright permission, complete form and send to [email protected])

Marketplace

Supply of low-cost apartments dwindled over last decade, study says

Naturally occurring affordable housing is basically cheap enough for low-income people to afford it without a government subsidy. “These tend to be older units, units in some cases that might not be particularly desirable in terms of the location or the kind of amenity value of those units,” explained Alex Hermann, a housing researcher at Harvard.

Vox

An Airbnb collapse won’t fix America’s housing shortage

“There’s a larger number of existing mortgage holders with record-low interest rates. So if you have a mortgage with an interest rate in threes or low fours, you’re less inclined to take on mortgages with rates in the sixes today,” Alexander Hermann, a research associate at Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, which recently released a report on the state of the nation’s housing, said.

The Wall Street Journal

Nobody Wants to Buy a Fixer-Upper Right Now

The decline in home buyers wishing to renovate hasn’t put a dent in overall spending on remodeling. In fact, the market for homeowner improvement and repair projects in the U.S. is projected to reach $484 billion in 2023, up from $471 billion last year and $328 billion in 2019, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

The New York Times

Imagine a Renters’ Utopia. It Might Look Like Vienna.

“If you give everyone demand-side subsidies, like vouchers, and there’s a supply shortage, it’s going to drive up prices,” Chris Herbert, the managing director of Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, told me. It costs the state more, and landlords often wind up pocketing the profits.

The Independent

5 tips to tackle a home remodel in an uncertain economy

Spending on home renovations is expected to slow this year because of factors such as declining home sales and values, rising interest rates, continuing inflation and rumblings of a coming recession, says Abbe Will, senior research associate with Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

The New York Times

Once an Evangelist for Airbnbs, She Now Crusades for Affordable Housing

“If you look at rental vacancy rates, they’re extremely low,” said Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a senior research associate at the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University. “It’s really hard for people to find an affordable place to move to. It’s extremely tight, especially for low-income renters.”

The Guardian

How finding a home in America became so absurdly expensive

“If you are a homeowner, you have access to incredible amounts of equity right now,” said Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a senior research associate at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. But this also means a huge number of potential home buyers are locked out of the market.