This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Malpezzi, S. Articles by Green, R. K. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

What Has Happened to the Bottom of the US Housing Market?

Center for Urban Land Economics Research, The School of Business, The University of Wisconsin, 975 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706-1323, USA, smalpezzi{at}bus.wisc.edu

Richard K. Green

Center for Urban Land Economics Research, The School of Business, The University of Wisconsin, 975 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706-1323, USA, rgreen{at}bus.wisc.edu.

Housing quality has improved dramatically for most low-income households, but they are paying much larger shares of their income for it. Many discussions of the bottom of the market focus on either the rising costs (the 'bad' news) or the rising quality (the 'good' news). Both points of view have some merit. This paper takes a positivist approach to the question: what's happening to the bottom of the housing market. We use a variety of indicators to look at whether the supply of low-cost units has fallen. We then focus on whether this dwindling supply reflects a market failure. If the market for low-income housing is indeed failing, we would observe: relatively high prices per unit of housing services provided by low-quality housing; obstructions to the supply of low-cost housing, which arises largely from filtering; and high vacancy rates. We find evidence of market failure in some markets but not in others. Finally, we focus on one possible source of market failure—excessive regulation—to see whether it is a common thread across those markets that have difficulty producing low-cost housing.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				K. McClure Deciphering the Need in Housing Markets: A Technique to Identify Appropriate Housing Policies at the Local Level Journal of Planning Education and Research, June 1, 2005; 24(4): 361 - 378. [Abstract] [PDF]