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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Boston.com

Looking to remodel? So will everyone else, Harvard study projects

“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.

Marketplace

Aging housing stock fuels home improvement boom

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%.

ABC News

Rents reach 'insane' levels across US with no end in sight

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.

Bloomberg

Home Improvement Headaches to Intensify

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.

CNBC

Here’s how inflation is hitting everything you buy for your home

“The rising costs of labor and construction materials, difficulty retaining contractors, and climbing interest rates could discourage owners from undertaking new or larger remodeling projects,” said Abbe Will, associate project director of the Remodeling Futures Program at JCHS.

USA Today

Americans move to Texas, Florida and Alabama as more work from home since COVID

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.

CNBC

Soaring rental prices make it even more difficult to save for a house

By the end of 2021, the number of renter households increased by about 870,000 compared with the first quarter of 2020, according to a report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. The overall rental vacancy rate had dropped to the lowest level since the mid-1980s.

ProPublica

When Private Equity Becomes Your Landlord

Rents nearly doubled in many major cities over the decade, despite slow wage growth that often failed to meet the rising cost of housing. That put renters in a financial vise, with the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard reporting that nearly half paid rent equal to 30% or more of their income in 2019.