What City Observatory did this week 1. Rent control’s impact on the San Francisco housing market. A new study from three Stanford economists dissects the impacts of rent control in San Francisco. Using a late-in-the-game revision of the rent control…
What the ranch house teaches us about house prices and filtering. Back in the heyday of the post-war housing boom, back when the baby boomers were babies, America was building ranch houses–millions of them. In its prime, the ranch house…
A new study of San Francisco’s rent control shows it raises rents for some Rent control is a perennially contentious issue. Many housing activists see it as a logical and direct way to make housing more affordable. Economists are almost…
There are a lot of details to be worked out to integrate autonomous vehicles into cities. Federal preemption could foreclose the opportunity of states and cities to help figure out the best ways forward. It’s a touchstone of federalism that…
What City Observatory did this week 1. Signs of the times. For most of the past few years, Portland–like other flourishing metro economies–has seen significant increases in apartment rents, as demand for urban living has outstripped local supply. There’s evidence…