Affordable Housing Institute : US

History’s biggest-ever experiment in urban reconstruction is about to begin.
 

Ladies and gentlemen, start your economic engines.

No, not the finger-pointing re-examination of our flaky-ceiling Big Dig, but the Gulf Coast rebuilding, which will now kick into high gear, plans or no plans, as billions will flow directly to property owners and thence into the […]

Compared with other asset classes, single-family homes are remarkably resistant to price collapses; while every now and then prices may scoot up, they very seldom reverse course with anything like the same speed.  (I can’t prove this but am utterly convinced it’s true.) 
 
 
Homesteaders, early twentieth century
 
I speculate that the principal reason why is that […]

Because housing demand is elastic, as incomes rise, the affordable housing consumption also rises, leading not just to evolving modern bigger homes (McMansion or otherwise), but also to multi-home families.  Some temporarily separate for work; others seek out their own private weekend home, as ingenuously reported by the New York Times, delightedly discovering towns beyond […]

[Resuming from yesterday’s gripping Part 1.]
 

 
“As I was saying before we were so abruptly interrupted,” Holmes resumed, “in the case of the Chad Pipeline the World Bank funded the endeavor using a lock-box transaction structure.  The bank believed that the security measures ought to make the investment produce the desired results — poverty alleviation and […]

“Mycroft has been at work again,” chuckled Holmes after a glance at the latest stock prices. “Imagine what he could accomplish if, in addition to intellect and patriotism, he also had ambition.” Then he straightened as his eye fell on a small item. “I say, it appears our friend the worldly philosopher […]