Housing
We study and report on trends and conditions in the district’s housing markets.
Recent Articles
Notes from the Field
Regional Efforts Increase Affordable Housing in Central Ohio
05.30.2023
This Columbus-area organization is leveraging public and private dollars to successfully stabilize and expand affordable housing in Columbus, Franklin County, and beyond.
Notes from the Field
Small-Dollar Mortgages Offer Much-Needed Entry into Homeownership
01.17.2023
For lower-income households, the barriers to homeownership can seem insurmountable. Lending programs can help address the lack of traditional financing available to buyers who are often left out of homeownership—those who need a small-dollar mortgage.
Working Paper
Disentangling Rent Index Differences: Data, Methods, and Scope
12.19.2022 |
WP 22-38
Prominent rent growth indices often give strikingly different measurements of rent inflation. We create new indices from Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) rent microdata using a repeat-rent index methodology and show that this discrepancy is almost entirely explained by differences in rent growth for new tenants relative to the average rent growth for all tenants. Rent inflation for new tenants leads the official BLS rent inflation by four quarters. As rent is the largest component of the consumer price index, this has implications for our understanding of aggregate inflation dynamics and guiding monetary policy.
Community Development Reports
Home Mortgage Lending by Race and Income in a Time of Low Interest Rates: Examples from Select Counties in Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania from 2018 through 2021
11.29.2022
Several years ago, the Cleveland Fed examined data for seven large urban counties in our region. At that time, we looked at how these counties performed post-Great Recession. In this report, we revisit those seven counties and examine how they performed during the COVID-19 pandemic and in an environment of record-low interest rates.
Community Development Reports
Data Updates: Measuring Evictions during the COVID-19 Crisis
01.31.2023
Temporary policies put in place to protect renters are beginning to expire. To understand how the crisis is affecting evictions, our researchers measured eviction filing activity in 44 cities and counties across the nation.
Cleveland Fed District Data Brief
Strong Demand, Limited Supply, and Rising Prices: The Economics of Pandemic-Era Housing
09.29.2021
When the coronavirus pandemic began, many feared the housing market would collapse as it did in the mid-2000s. Instead, the industry has struggled to keep up with an influx of demand for homes, leading to rapidly rising prices. What’s next for residential real estate and construction?
Research [in] Brief
Research [in] Brief: Why Do Black and White Households Still Live in Such Different Neighborhoods?
09.26.2021
Access to schools and job-referral networks in neighborhoods with a high socioeconomic status could be a pathway to economic mobility for Black Americans. Yet, even with the same household income or wealth, Black and white Americans often live in separate neighborhoods, with Black neighborhoods poorer than white ones.
Notes from the Field
Shared Equity Affordable Homes Unlock Racial Equity for All
06.09.2021
Home prices are rising, pricing out many potential homebuyers. This alternative homeownership model keeps homes affordable for lower-income buyers and increasingly for buyers of color.
Multimedia Storytelling
The threat of eviction during COVID-19: Perspectives from Cleveland’s Ohio City
05.03.2021
Hear from a renter, a landlord, a Housing Court judge, and a Legal Aid attorney in Cleveland about the difficulties of the pandemic and solutions that show promise for times of crisis and times of relative stability in our new story.
Notes from the Field
Closing the Racial Wealth Gap One Homeowner and Good Job at a Time: Toledo Taps Existing Resources to Increase Equity
04.15.2021
Think you don’t have the resources to increase equity and inclusion? Maybe you already have what you need. Toledo’s approach makes use of financial resources and partnerships already in place.
Notes from the Field
CRA, Racism & the Federal Reserve: A Midwest Perspective
01.15.2021
The Community Reinvestment Act is up for its first significant revision in 25 years. It’s important we optimize this tool to address systemic disinvestment in lower-income and minority communities.
Research [in] Brief
Research [in] Brief: Subprime Lending’s Effects during the Boom and Bust
01.13.2021
The US housing boom of the early 2000s featured a substantial increase in subprime debt, but some evidence points away from this being the primary driver of the housing crisis that followed.
Article
The Fed’s Commercial Paper Funding Facility, explained
10.15.2020
To support those banks, businesses, and municipalities that want to borrow money by issuing commercial paper, the Fed will purchase certain types of commercial paper from eligible issuers until March 17, 2021.
Economic Commentary
Subprime May Not Have Caused the 2000s Housing Crisis: Evidence from Cleveland, Ohio
10.06.2020 |
EC 2020-25
During the 2000s housing bust, Cleveland’s Slavic Village was dubbed “ground zero of the foreclosure crisis” by the national media. Despite this, during the preceding housing boom Cleveland had stable house price growth and relatively low mortgage debt growth, a stark contrast to circumstances in areas such as California that had exceptionally high house price and mortgage debt growth. What explains the relatively minor housing boom and perceived sharp downturn in Cleveland? In this Commentary I show that while subprime debt was a prominent source of debt in Cleveland and especially in its Slavic Village neighborhood during the 2000s, it is difficult to peg subprime debt as playing a causal role in the subsequent foreclosure crisis.