More Americans Overspent on Housing

Data from the Census shows that 36.7% of U.S. households pay more than 30% of their pretax income on housing, an increase of 1.5 million since 2007.

1 minute read

October 3, 2010, 5:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur

The economists at the Wall St. Journal puzzle over how this could be, given that mortgage rates have been at record lows. Without coming to any conclusions on the reasons, they note that renters are even worse off:

"While the glut of houses in places such as California and Florida allowed many defaulters to rent luxurious homes for a fraction of their previous mortgage payments, the shift of people from homeowners to renters helped keep rents rising across the country. As a result, in 2009 some 47.7% of renters faced excessive housing costs, up from 45.6% in 2007."

FULL STORY: Number of the Week: 41.7 Million Spend Too Much on Housing

Saturday, October 2, 2010 in The Wall St. Journal

Housing United States Mortgages Housing Costs

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching. Mary G., Urban Planner

I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

Mary G., Urban Planner

Get top-rated, practical training

Start Learning

Advertise with us

Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools

This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.