By Michael Stubel

February 12, 2012

As the nation’s economy tries to gain traction and build momentum, the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Housing Commission has released an infographic detailing the housing industry’s historical impact on economic growth. The graphic tracks private investment in housing in the wake of previous downturns, demonstrating that a robust housing industry helped drive the eventual recoveries. However, since 2008, the industry has made less than half its normal contribution to economic growth.

By Michael Stubel

February 21, 2012

Welcome to the BPC Housing Commission expert forum! This forum is intended to foster interactive and substantive discussion about pressing housing issues. Each month contributors from different parts of the housing sector will be invited to respond to a discussion topic. Guest posts are shared regularly with Housing Commissioners to help inform their work.

Have a pressing question you’d like us to consider? Please leave it in the comments section. We encourage you and our expert bloggers to add comments, contributing to the national dialogue on solutions for the future of the housing sector.

Expert bloggers are not members of the BPC Housing Commission. Any views expressed on this forum do not necessarily represent the views of the Housing Commission, its Co-Chairs, or the Bipartisan Policy Center.

What are some of the key characteristics of a healthy housing system? And how can the success of these features be measured?

Private sector must take lead role in housing recovery
By Angela Antonelli

The recovery of the housing market will be a slow process and take time. The demand and supply for housing is seriously out of sync and bringing it back into balance will depend on whether policymakers act in a deliberative way to re-build the key characteristics of a healthy housing system. A healthy housing system is one in which:

Economic growth is robust. Quite simply, only sound economic policies and robust growth will breathe life back into the housing market. Until the federal government as well as the states can deal with the crisis of long-term fiscal sustainability (i.e., reversing the current upward trajectory of spending, taxation and regulation), consumer confidence, business investment and jobs growth will remain sluggish. Federal programs crafted to drive recovery in the housing market have failed thus far because of the fundamental weakness of our economy.

By Michael Stubel

October 24, 2011

Throughout the week, the BPC Housing Commission will highlight news articles that address critical developments in housing policy. Any views expressed in the content posted on this forum do not necessarily represent the views of the Commission, its co-chairs or the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Fannie, Freddie overseer looks to boost ailing housing market

By Vicki Needham
The Hill

"Edward DeMarco, acting director of the FHFA, has been telling lawmakers that the agency would soon take several concrete steps to help homeowners, including raising the loan-to-value ratio of 125 percent used for determining eligibility for the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), enabling underwater borrowers with government-backed mortgages to refinance." Read more here.

By Michael Stubel

October 31, 2011

Throughout the week, the BPC Housing Commission will highlight news articles that address critical developments in housing policy. Any views expressed in the content posted on this forum do not necessarily represent the views of the Commission, its co-chairs or the Bipartisan Policy Center.

Can Foreign Buyers Save the U.S. Housing Market?

By Meg Handley
U.S. News and World Report

"Ultra-low and declining home prices are a headache for homeowners, but they might also be the key to healing the housing market as foreign investors snap up real estate bargains in the United States. Internationally oriented sales amounted to $82 billion for the year ending in March, according to the most recent data from the National Association of Realtors, about 8 percent of total U.S. sales and $16 billion more than the same period last year." Read more here.