Urban Institute’s series on DC’s population growth – Chapter 3. Housing

Chapter 3 Housing:

“It takes more than a thriving restaurant scene to sustain DC’s recent population boom. New residents also need somewhere to live. Increased demand has driven up the already high cost of homes and rentals and kicked off a surge of new construction. While the city is now prospering, these changes have made DC unaffordable for many residents, both current and new.

High housing costs have helped make DC one of the most expensive places in the country to live. Even at higher-income levels, many renters are paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing and some find homeownership out of reach. Lower-income residents, meanwhile, are getting further priced out of the market. Can the city meet the needs of its new generation of residents while also creating and preserving affordable housing at all income levels?”

From an email:

“A few highlights:

1. DC’s housing market much stronger than most US cities’. The DC housing market is so hot that during the housing crisis, prices didn’t fall. They just stabilized. It bucked the national trend. (Slide 2)

2. New units built for wealthier residents. New rental units are being built largely for people with considerable resources, less often for middle- and low-income residents. (Slide 3)

3. Millennials are driving many of these changes. They’re educated, and are making up more and more of the population. (Slide 4)

4. The population boom has been accompanied by a building boom. This animated map shows 12 years of residential real estate development. (Slide 5)”

Read the full report and see all the slides here.