In Case You Missed It: Week of May 22 – 27
Apartment amenity trends; analyzing rent costs in every country; rental affordability by U.S. city; and the murky relationship between wage and job growth.
How Apartment Amenities Have Changed over the Years
National Real Estate Investor – May 26, 2016
“Although the anecdotal story of Millennials preferring downtown living has been told over and over, it has not been easy to confirm this theory with numbers. What can be analyzed in the Reis new construction data, however, is the shift in amenities that landlords have included in their new buildings over the years.”
How much a decent apartment costs you in every county
Wonkblog – The Washington Post – May 25, 2016
“A decent two-bedroom rental today will cost you on average more than you could afford working full time on the local minimum wage everywhere in America — in every state, every county, every metropolitan area. No matter how you draw the geography. Whether you live in Sioux Falls or San Francisco.”
The Income Needed to Pay Rent in the Largest U.S. Cities
SmartAsset – May 25, 2016
“According to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, just 54% of U.S. renters in 2014 had affordable housing. The rest used more than 30% of their salaries to pay for housing costs. That means that millions of Americans were paying too much for rent, leaving them with less money to spend on other essentials or to put toward investing and saving for retirement.”
New York City May 2016 Economic Snapshot
New York City Economic Development Corporation- May 25, 2016
“Private employment in New York City increased by 4,400 jobs between March and April 2016. The unemployment rate remains at 5.5%, down from 6.9% this same time last year.”
Sympathy for the Devil in the Details of Wage Growth
Charles Schwab – May 23, 2016
“There is a linkage between the two mandates in that wage growth and the unemployment rate tend to move inversely. Wage growth tends to slow as the unemployment rate rises, and vice versa. Yet recent trends show some kinks in this long-term relationship.”
And now for something completely different…
Here’s What the New York State Pavilion May Soon Look Like
Popular Science – May 24, 2016
“Remember that scene in Men in Black when Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones have to climb up a tower in Queens to stop an alien from stealing a flying saucer on top of it? Well, if you’re unfamiliar, that’s a very real place called the New York State Pavilion, and it was designed for the 1964-65 World’s Fair by Philip Johnson.”