Max Anderson

The Youngest Cities in the U.S. Salt Lake City, UT. Percentage of the population under 35: 52.8% Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX. Percentage of the population under 35: 50.2% Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA. Percentage of the population under 35: 49.9% The U.S. population is getting older. Aging Baby Boomers and declining fertility rates mean that for the…

The U.S. is facing a shortage of skilled trade laborers. This is due to several factors, including the culture’s emphasis on getting a four-year college degree and an increasing number of retiring Baby Boomers. The shortage of skilled trade labor has pushed up wages in these occupations. According to data from the Bureau of Labor…

On any given night during the cold month of January, over 568,000 experience the fear and discomfort of homelessness. While homelessness rates fell between 2007 and 2019, the problem has started to increase again. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in 2017, the U.S. began seeing a rise in homelessness year over…

As mortgage rates reach historic lows, prospective home buyers are in a strong position to purchase their first house. One of the most important questions prospective home buyers need to answer is whether they would prefer to buy a new or old home. However, housing inventory varies significantly by location and some parts of the…

  Household size in the U.S. is inching up for the first-time in over a century due to lower housing inventory and skyrocketing rents. Accompanying this trend is the increase in “doubled-up households”—defined as households having one or more adults in addition to the head of household and spouse or partner. Doubled-up households often include an adult…

For decades, metropolitan areas throughout the U.S. have invested in high-density housing—building more apartment buildings, condos, and other multi-unit complexes. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting this long-standing demand for housing in high-density areas and buildings. Even as the distancing measures from COVID ultimately subside, recent research suggests that people may continue to seek housing in…

The COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated dramatic fluctuations in the housing market. According to Freddie Mac, mortgage interest rates are near historic lows. U.S. Census Bureau data also shows that after a sharp decline in the first half of 2020, sales of new single-family residences were up 36.3 percent year-over-year in July. As sales have gone up,…

Both new home sales and new home construction fell sharply in spring, during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, both have rebounded aggressively, with new home sales back above pre-COVID levels and new home construction nearing recent highs. This bounce-back has been fueled by a combination of low interest rates, increased demand, and a…

Building permit data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that investment in single-family homes has been on the decline for several decades, while investment in multi-unit properties has increased. However, migration shifts and urban density concerns brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic could reverse this trend in the future. Cities and states that have invested…

The U.S. solar industry has grown significantly in the last decade as solar power has become more affordable, efficient, and accessible. Since 2014, the cost of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels has dropped by almost 50 percent. The U.S. now has over 2 million solar PV installations, which produce enough electricity each year to power more…