January 15: What we’re reading
Some articles we found interesting this week:
Where are the best public transit systems in the world? Check out this article to find out (Hint: none are located in the US).
Here’s an article that explores what might happen to Raleigh’s real estate market in 2023.
Here is a report that lists RTP as one of the top life science industry clusters in the US. These clusters, paired with large research universities will likely continue to power economic growth in and around Raleigh and pressure residential real estate prices.
Some experts suggest that downtowns are going to experience serious office space vacancies due to the “work from home” impacts of COVID. This article explores a unique way of determining which unused office space can be converted to apartments.
Here is another article exploring the need to convert unused office space into housing due to the impacts of COVID on the future of work.
Here is an interesting study of the Puget Sound Area and how zoning impacts housing around transit. Given where Raleigh and Wake County are in the implementation of the Wake Transit Plan, this study is worth reviewing. One important point noted in the study is the fact that regulatory reform can help improve housing affordability, but substantially more subsidies are needed to really address the affordable housing crisis.
According to the Wake County Register of Deeds, the median real estate price in Wake County rose $12,000 to $465,000 in December.
Even renters that qualify for subsidies like Housing Choice Vouchers (formerly Section 8) are having trouble paying rent according to this article.
Is Housing First the Solution to Homelessness?
New Census Numbers demonstrate why North Carolina’s Population Keeps Growing.