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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WDET

Home Remodeling Is Surging and the Cost of Materials Is Higher Than Ever

Kermit Baker, a senior research fellow at Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, says setbacks in renovations are being fueled by global factors. ”The cost of lumber has tripled over the last three months …We’re seeing a lot of markets that are slowed down by fundamental problems in the supply chain.”

Vox

The home sales boom means you might end up renting

Monthly housing costs are much lower for single-family rentals compared with single-family home purchases, according to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, and the typical income of families living in those rentals is more modest as well.

The New York Times

Renovating Your Kitchen This Summer? Proceed With Caution

In 2020, as the U.S. economy fell by 3.5 percent, spending on home repairs and improvements rose more than 3 percent, to nearly $420 billion, according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

The Washington Post

Potential buyer seeks fixer-upper for $7,000. Can it be done?

With more homeowners hunkering down because of the coronavirus and staying in their homes longer, the home improvement industry experienced a surge of demand last year, although demand is expected to fall this year, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity, released quarterly by the Remodeling Futures Program at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

Bloomberg

Are Millennials Finally Ready to Binge on Housing?

“For such a basic and fundamental measure, the number of households in the US is largely a mystery,” three researchers from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies lamented in 2015.

Realtor.com

Remodeling Expected To Remain Hot, Even as the Pandemic Eases

Homeowners are anticipated to spend about 4.8% more by the first quarter of 2022, according to the Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity. The indicator, from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, offers a short-term outlook for home improvement spending.

The New Republic

The Enduring Fiction of Affordable Housing

While nearly 11 million tenants–a quarter of the US’s tenant households–qualify as “extremely low income,” earning 30 percent of AMI, and while the median tenant made just $40,500 a year in 2018, the vast majority of Affordable Housing built through all mechanisms targets higher income thresholds.