Data Explorer: Rent Burden in the US
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How to fight big financial landlords
The role of big finance in housing has been getting a lot of attention lately. TikTokers made a big scare and convinced a lot of people that 40% of single-family homes are owned by private equity companies, which is not even close to being true. This turned out to be
Are landlords profiting by keeping units vacant?
Many people, myself included, think that finance has some important role in why the rent is so damn high. There is a growing "housing financialization" literature about this. The idea is that banks, investors, and other financial actors are driving up home and rent prices. This was a
Low-income wage gains are an illusion—blame the rent
Over the last year, many people have been grappling with the question of whether the economy sucks. Or, anyway, whether the economy was in good or bad shape before Trump hit it with a wrecking ball. This remains a question of enormous political importance. After we make it out of
The Collapse of Housing Affordability
Housing has gotten much more expensive in the last half century. We can learn a lot about how the rental market works by looking at who has borne that burden.