IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/fip/fedbcw/06-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The lack of affordable housing in New England: how big a problem?: why is it growing?: what are we doing about it?

Author

Listed:
  • Darcy Rollins
  • Alicia Sasser
  • Robert Tannenwald
  • Bo Zhao

Abstract

Although housing costs in greater Boston and elsewhere around the region have leveled off, affordable housing is still high on the public policy agenda in every New England state. A growing chorus of employers and policymakers are warning that the region's high cost of housing is now undermining its ability to attract and retain workers and businesses. This paper presents a thorough, region-wide analysis of the housing affordability problem in New England. We construct three affordability indicators to examine differences in the cost of housing across socioeconomic, demographic, and occupational groups, for every New England state and for the region's principal metropolitan areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Darcy Rollins & Alicia Sasser & Robert Tannenwald & Bo Zhao, 2006. "The lack of affordable housing in New England: how big a problem?: why is it growing?: what are we doing about it?," New England Public Policy Center Working Paper 06-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedbcw:06-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.bostonfed.org/economic/neppc/wp/2006/neppcwp0601.htm
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: http://www.bostonfed.org/economic/neppc/wp/2006/neppcwp0601.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Charles Himmelberg & Christopher Mayer & Todd Sinai, 2005. "Assessing High House Prices: Bubbles, Fundamentals and Misperceptions," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(4), pages 67-92, Fall.
    2. Rose, Louis A., 1989. "Topographical constraints and urban land supply indexes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3), pages 335-347, November.
    3. Case, Karl E. & Mayer, Christopher J., 1996. "Housing price dynamics within a metropolitan area," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(3-4), pages 387-407, June.
    4. Barakova, Irina & Bostic, Raphael W. & Calem, Paul S. & Wachter, Susan M., 2003. "Does credit quality matter for homeownership?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 318-336, December.
    5. Alan Greenspan & James E. Kennedy, 2005. "Estimates of home mortgage originations, repayments, and debt on one-to-four-family residences," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2005-41, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    6. Brueckner, Jan K. & Follain, James R., 1989. "ARMs and the demand for housing," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 163-187, May.
    7. John M. Quigley & Steven Raphael & Eugene Smolensky, 2001. "Homeless In America, Homeless In California," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(1), pages 37-51, February.
    8. Thorson, James A., 1997. "The Effect of Zoning on Housing Construction," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 81-91, March.
    9. Stephen Malpezzi & Richard K. Green, 1996. "What Has Happened to the Bottom of the US Housing Market?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 33(10), pages 1807-1820, December.
    10. Henry O. Pollakowski & Susan M. Wachter, 1990. "The Effects of Land-Use Constraints on Housing Prices," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 66(3), pages 315-324.
    11. Christopher J. Mayer & C. Tsuriel Somerville, 2003. "Government regulation and changes in the affordable housing stock," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Jun, pages 45-62.
    12. Mayer, Christopher J. & Somerville, C. Tsuriel, 2000. "Land use regulation and new construction," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 639-662, December.
    13. Robert G. Lynch, 2003. "Estimates of Income and Income Inequality in the United States and in Each of the Fifty States: 1988–1999," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(3), pages 571-588, August.
    14. John M. Quigley & Steven Raphael, 2004. "Is Housing Unaffordable? Why Isn't It More Affordable?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 191-214, Winter.
    15. Edward L. Glaeser & Joseph Gyourko & Raven E. Saks, 2005. "Why Have Housing Prices Gone Up?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 329-333, May.
    16. Joseph Gyourko & Christopher Mayer & Todd Sinai, 2013. "Superstar Cities," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 167-199, November.
    17. Richard J. Rosen, 2005. "Explaining recent changes in home prices," Chicago Fed Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, issue Jul.
    18. Krisandra Guidry & Jams D. Shilling & C. F. Shirmans, 1999. "Land-Use Controls, Natural Restrictions, and Urban Residential Land Prices," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 29(2), pages 105-113, Fall.
    19. Karl E. Case & Robert J. Shiller, 2003. "Is There a Bubble in the Housing Market?," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 34(2), pages 299-362.
    20. Keith R. Ihlanfeldt, 2004. "Exclusionary Land-use Regulations within Suburban Communities: A Review of the Evidence and Policy Prescriptions," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(2), pages 261-283, February.
    21. Mayo, Stephen & Sheppard, Stephen, 2001. "Housing Supply and the Effects of Stochastic Development Control," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 109-128, June.
    22. Mayo, Stephen K., 1981. "Theory and estimation in the economics of housing demand," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 95-116, July.
    23. Rose, Louis A., 1989. "Urban land supply: Natural and contrived restrictions," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(3), pages 325-345, May.
    24. John V. Duca, 2004. "How vulnerable are housing prices?," Southwest Economy, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, issue Mar, pages 1,11-16.
    25. Stephen Malpezzi, 1994. "Housing Prices, Externalities, and Regulation in U.S. Metropolitan Areas," Wisconsin-Madison CULER working papers 94-08, University of Wisconsin Center for Urban Land Economic Research.
    26. Edward Ludwig Glaeser & Joseph Gyourko, 2003. "The impact of building restrictions on housing affordability," Economic Policy Review, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, issue Jun, pages 21-39.
    27. John F. Kain & John M. Quigley, 1975. "Determinants of Housing Expenditures," NBER Chapters, in: Housing Markets and Racial Discrimination: A Microeconomic Analysis, pages 154-189, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    28. Stephen Malpezzi & Richard K. Green, 1995. "What’s Happened to the Bottom of the Housing Market?," Wisconsin-Madison CULER working papers 95-16, University of Wisconsin Center for Urban Land Economic Research.
    29. Green, Richard K., 1999. "Land Use Regulation and the Price of Housing in a Suburban Wisconsin County," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 8(2), pages 144-159, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nicholas Chiumenti & Aradhya Sood, 2022. "Local Zoning Laws and the Supply of Multifamily Housing in Greater Boston," New England Public Policy Center Research Report 22-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    2. Nicholas Chiumenti, 2019. "The growing shortage of affordable housing for the extremely low income in Massachusetts," New England Public Policy Center Policy Reports 19-1, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    3. Rob Krueger & David Gibbs, 2008. "'Third Wave' Sustainability? Smart Growth and Regional Development in the USA," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(9), pages 1263-1274.
    4. Modestino, Alicia Sasser & Dennett, Julia, 2013. "Are American homeowners locked into their houses? The impact of housing market conditions on state-to-state migration," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(2), pages 322-337.
    5. Sasser, Alicia C., 2010. "Voting with their feet: Relative economic conditions and state migration patterns," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2-3), pages 122-135, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. John M. Quigley & Steven Raphael, 2004. "Is Housing Unaffordable? Why Isn't It More Affordable?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 18(1), pages 191-214, Winter.
    2. Frederic S. Mishkin, 2007. "Housing and the monetary transmission mechanism," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 359-413.
    3. Raven S. Molloy & Charles G. Nathanson & Andrew D. Paciorek, 2020. "Housing Supply and Affordability: Evidence from Rents, Housing Consumption and Household Location," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2020-044, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    4. Molloy, Raven & Nathanson, Charles G. & Paciorek, Andrew, 2022. "Housing supply and affordability: Evidence from rents, housing consumption and household location," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    5. Jenny Schuetz & Rachel Meltzer & Vicki Been, 2011. "Silver Bullet or Trojan Horse? The Effects of Inclusionary Zoning on Local Housing Markets in the United States," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 48(2), pages 297-329, February.
    6. Molloy, Raven, 2020. "The effect of housing supply regulation on housing affordability: A review," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    7. Zabel, Jeffrey & Dalton, Maurice, 2011. "The impact of minimum lot size regulations on house prices in Eastern Massachusetts," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(6), pages 571-583.
    8. Gyourko, Joseph & Molloy, Raven, 2015. "Regulation and Housing Supply," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 1289-1337, Elsevier.
    9. Jenny Schuetz & Rachel Meltzer & Vicki Been, 2009. "Silver Bullet or Trojan Horse? The Effects of Inclusionary Zoning on Local Housing Markets," Working Paper 8519, USC Lusk Center for Real Estate.
    10. Keith R. Ihlanfeldt, 2004. "Exclusionary Land-use Regulations within Suburban Communities: A Review of the Evidence and Policy Prescriptions," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 41(2), pages 261-283, February.
    11. Hongwei Dong, 2018. "The impact of income inequality on rental affordability: An empirical study in large American metropolitan areas," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 55(10), pages 2106-2122, August.
    12. Quigley, John M. & Rosenthal, Larry A., 2005. "The Effects of Land-Use Regulation on the Price of Housing: What Do We Know? What Can We Learn?," Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy, Working Paper Series qt90m9g90w, Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy.
    13. Christian A. L. Hilber, 2017. "The Economic Implications of House Price Capitalization: A Synthesis," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 45(2), pages 301-339, April.
    14. Paul C. Cheshire & Christian A. L. Hilber, 2008. "Office Space Supply Restrictions in Britain: The Political Economy of Market Revenge," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(529), pages 185-221, June.
    15. John Landis & Vincent J. Reina, 2021. "Do Restrictive Land Use Regulations Make Housing More Expensive Everywhere?," Economic Development Quarterly, , vol. 35(4), pages 305-324, November.
    16. Florence Goffette-Nagot, 2009. "Prix fonciers et demande de sol à usage résidentiel en France (1975-2000)," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 60(3), pages 853-862.
    17. Magliocca, Nicholas & McConnell, Virginia & Walls, Margaret & Safirova, Elena, 2012. "Zoning on the urban fringe: Results from a new approach to modeling land and housing markets," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(1-2), pages 198-210.
    18. Davis, Morris A. & Heathcote, Jonathan, 2007. "The price and quantity of residential land in the United States," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(8), pages 2595-2620, November.
    19. Paciorek, Andrew, 2013. "Supply constraints and housing market dynamics," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 11-26.
    20. Devin Bunten, 2017. "Is the Rent Too High? Aggregate Implications of Local Land-Use Regulation," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2017-064, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Housing - New England; Housing - Prices; Housing policy - New England;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:fip:fedbcw:06-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Spozio (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/frbbous.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.