Gentrification Impact on Housing Market

The Zillow Research article discusses the impact of proximity to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's on housing values in the United States. According to the article, homes located within a one-mile radius of a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods had significantly higher median values compared to the national average. In 2014, homes near a Trader Joe's had a median value of $406,600, while those near a Whole Foods were valued at $376,200, in contrast to the national median home value of less than $180,000. Between 1997 and 2014, homes near these high-end natural food stores appreciated by an average of 148 percent and 140 percent, respectively, outpacing the 71 percent appreciation of the typical U.S. home during the same period.

The study also looks into the timing of the appreciation, suggesting that the effect is because these stores are located in already affluent neighborhoods. Analyzing the opening dates of 40 Trader Joe’s and 40 Whole Foods stores, the researchers found that homes near these locations appreciated at the same pace or slower than the typical home in the city before the stores opened. However, after the opening of either store, houses in the neighborhood began to appreciate faster than the average home in the city. This indicates a potential positive impact on home values associated with the presence of Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s in the neighborhood. 

https://www.zillow.com/research/whole-foods-trader-joes-home-value-11696/

Slumping Housing Market Offers Alternative Investment: Apartment Buildings

With a struggling housing market, this article offers a unique view into an alternative way to invest in the market...Apartment Buildings. It's been found with landlords that people are a bit more reluctant nowadays to move into houses, and are moving closer to cities and choosing apartment life. This is a win-win for both buyer and seller as the landlords are buying the properties for cheap and getting very high returns on them, and at the same time, the tenants are getting the type of housing they want at a good price.

Racial Predatory Loans Fuel Housing Crisis: Study

"Predatory lending aimed at racially segregated minority neighborhoods led to mass foreclosures that fueled the U.S. housing crisis, according to a new study published in the American Sociological Review.

Predatory lending typically refers to loans that carry unreasonable fees, interest rates and payment requirements.

Poorer minority areas became a focus of these practices in the 1990s with the growth of mortgage-backed securities, which enabled lenders to pool low- and high-risk loans to sell on the secondary market, Professor Douglas Massey of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University and PhD candidate Jacob Rugh, said in their study.

The financial institutions likely to be found in minority areas tended to be predatory -- pawn shops, payday lenders and check cashing services that "charge high fees and usurious rates of interest," they said in the study.

"By definition, segregation creates minority dominant neighborhoods, which, given the legacy of redlining and institutional discrimination, continue to be underserved by mainstream financial institutions," the study says."

Home Prices Down Again

Prices fell again on homes in the US for the second straight month in July, as the mortgage loan companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both saw losses for the month. Being the second month that this has happened, are these signs of a double-dip recession with the overall "slow-but-steady" growth in domestic markets? Or just a continuation of the recession that has been going on for a couple years?