The state of the U.S. housing market has been one of the defining economic stories of the past two years. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, housing has become more expensive for both buyers and renters. The median home…
The residential real estate sales profession is dominated by women. According to the National Association of Realtors, women have been involved in the U.S. real estate industry since its earliest days. Starting in the late 1800s, women began to move…
The health of the manufacturing sector in the U.S. has been a major focus of public attention in recent years. With populist political figures like Donald Trump on the right and Bernie Sanders on the left offering critiques of U.S.…
All businesses and economies are built on infrastructure. Networks of roads, rail, bridges, ports, utilities, and more make it possible to provide goods and services across the country. Quality infrastructure helps lower the cost of supplies and transportation, which helps…
While much of the economy has fared better than expected during the COVID-19 pandemic, racial and ethnic minorities have faced enormous challenges over the past two years. Entering the pandemic, non-white households were more likely to be poor and to…
After an extended run of intense competition and high prices in the residential real estate market, 2022 is bringing signs that the market could begin to cool soon. With inflation on the rise and home prices still rising, more buyers…
Today’s real estate market remains highly challenging for many buyers. With a limited supply of homes and a high number of buyers, prices have soared to record heights over the past two years. One of the underlying factors contributing to…
For much of the COVID-19 pandemic, favorable financial conditions for many middle and upper-income households have brought a rush of new homebuyers into the real estate market. In 2020 and 2021, increased savings rates and government stimulus allowed millions of…
As Americans hunkered down in their homes in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic—with remote work and school continuing into the foreseeable future—many began tackling home improvement projects. Demand for home offices, more living space, and nicer outdoor areas…
Like many sectors of the economy, the energy industry has faced new challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shifts in demand, production capacity, and distribution networks related to the virus have led to imbalances in supply and demand.…
Historically low interest rates, higher family savings, and new-found work-from-home opportunities driven by pandemic-related restrictions have combined to stimulate housing demand that raised the median price of existing single-family homes by 39% from 2018 to 2021. This boom impacted all…
Litter is a nationwide problem, but communities across the country have significantly different experiences with waste. According to the 2020 National Litter Study from Keep America Beautiful, there are nearly 50 billion pieces of litter in U.S. roadways and waterways,…
The average American spends about 90% of their time indoors and sits for a significant portion of the day. Researchers attribute a wide range of health problems to predominantly indoor (and often sedentary) lifestyles. For one, prolonged sitting is associated…
Nearly two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing spread of the virus and an uneven economic recovery have hobbled some sectors while others continue to experience rapid growth. One of the industries in the latter group is construction. Recent…
High-density housing can provide a number of important benefits to communities and the residents who live there. All else being equal, research suggests that residents in high-density communities tend to be more physically active and healthy. Their costs for utilities…
Approximately 44 million U.S. households (or 35% of total) are renters, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Renters tend to move much more frequently than homeowners. For example, 51% of renters surveyed in the 2019 American Community Survey…
The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the real estate market in the U.S. in many ways, changing where families want to live and the types of housing they prefer. Early on in the pandemic, many families in densely populated urban areas…
One of the major economic stories in recent months has been rising concerns about inflation. While year-over-year wage growth in the U.S. has reached its fastest rate in decades this year, the benefit of rising wages for most households has…
No household wants to face a pest problem, but over 14 million U.S. households encounter rodents, roaches, or other pests each year, according to the Census Bureau. These pests can trigger a variety of health concerns including asthma and may…
While the majority of Americans take running water and indoor plumbing for granted, a surprising number of residents don’t have running water, flushing toilets, or showers in their homes. In fact, according to the U.S. Water Alliance, over 2 million…
