Journalist’s Resource
While the Great Recession in the United States officially ended in 2009, it has been a long, slow recovery for the economy overall and housing in particular. The subprime collapse was a significant contributor to the crisis, after all, and because of the severity of the economic downturn, a range of factors have kept a housing recovery in check — high unemployment and foreclosure rates, tighter credit standards and even a growing preference for renting.
Despite the economic headwinds, a 2012 report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University found some signs of hope: The previous year had been one of the worst for housing since 1968, and the researchers found that by 2012, the market was showing signs of recovery — home construction, sales and remodeling expenditures all increased. This year’s edition, “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2013,” sees that trend continuing, with a widespread turnaround finally underway. The report’s findings are organized into five main sections: housing markets, demographic drivers, homeownership, rental housing and housing challenges.
Overall trends from the 2013 report include:
