WASHINGTON (September 12, 2024) – For the first time in a decade, the cost of rent and utilities rose faster than home values in 2023. The Census Bureau released the data today as part of the 2023 American Community Survey. According to The Washington Post, “the findings are yet another example of how a supercharged rental market is squeezing people who also can’t afford to buy.”
Faculty experts at the George Washington University are available to offer insight, commentary and analysis. If you would like to speak with an expert, please contact GW Media Relations Specialists Tayah Frye at [email protected] and Cate Douglass Restuccio at [email protected].
Anthony Yezer, professor of economics, teaches courses in regional economics, urban economics, and the economics of crime. He has been a Fellow of the Homer Hoyt School of Advanced Studies in Real Estate and Urban Economics since 1991. Although his research has concentrated on urban and regional economics, he has worked on a number of other areas where microeconomic theory is applied including: interregional migration, mortgage lending and credit risk measurement, optimal city size, spatial competition, and interarea rent and price indexes, among others.
Tara Sinclair is the director of the GW Center for Economic Research, which focuses on economic forecasting. Her research models, explains, and forecasts macroeconomic fluctuations and trends. She also evaluates forecasts, particularly with respect to their role in policy and decision-making. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in macroeconomics and econometrics. In 2022-2024 she served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Macroeconomics in the Office of Economic Policy at the Department of Treasury. Tara can discuss the impact inflation is having on housing costs and the challenges of persistent housing supply challenges.
Robert Van Order holds the Oliver Carr Chair in Real Estate at GW and is a professor of finance and economics. He was chief economist of Freddie Mac from 1987 until 2002. In that capacity he worked on the development of Freddie Mac models of mortgage default, prepayment and pricing; approaches to risk, capital structure and capital requirements; mortgage market structure; and analysis of housing and the economy. Before that he served as director of the Housing Finance Analysis Division at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
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