Showing archive for: “Housing & Community Development Law”
New Jersey’s War on Pricing Software Won’t Build More Apartments
When rents rise, blaming the algorithm is easier than building apartments. New Jersey has chosen the easier target. On July 20, Gov. Mikie Sherrill signed the Forbidding the Algorithmic Inflation of Rent Act, or FAIR Act, declaring that landlords who use shared pricing tools are engaging in “collusion by algorithm.” The phrase is built for ... New Jersey’s War on Pricing Software Won’t Build More Apartments
When Do Rent Controls Help Renters?
Imagine you’re a renter in a city where housing costs are sky-high. When the city council passes a rent-control law capping rents below the market rate, it feels like a victory. Finally, some relief! Indeed, the first people to benefit are those lucky tenants whose rents are now frozen or reduced. But fast forward a ... When Do Rent Controls Help Renters?
Trump Administration Has Opportunity to Chart a Better Course on AI
The lawsuit that the U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) filed last August against the real-estate software provider RealPage, as well as a report issued last month by the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) claiming to find $3.8 billion in consumer harms in the rental-housing market arising from the use of algorithmic-pricing tools, both stand ... Trump Administration Has Opportunity to Chart a Better Course on AI
The Bulldozer Solution to the Housing Crisis
My inaugural blog on two-sided markets did not elicit much reaction from TOTM readers. Perhaps it was too boring. In a desperate attempt to generate a hostile comment from at least one housing advocate, I have decided to advocate bulldozing homes in foreclosure as one (of several) means to relieve the housing crisis. Not with ... The Bulldozer Solution to the Housing Crisis
What caused the crisis?
Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Alan Greenspan, who was at the helm of the Fed during the relevant time period, tells us (surprise!) it wasn’t the Fed’s fault. Greenspan notes that short-term interest rates, which the Fed controls, are only loosely correlated with long-term interest rates, which are most relevant to real estate investing ... What caused the crisis?
Fannie and Freddie as "Greater Fools"
Today’s New York Times features an op-ed by Michigan Law Professor Michael Barr and former Clinton advisor Gene Sperling that (somewhat predictably) blames our current financial mess on a lack of “common sense regulation” and exonerates the Community Reinvestment Act, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. I propose a counter-narrative. It begins with a nutshell version ... Fannie and Freddie as "Greater Fools"
Tabarrok on the Credit Snobs
Marginal Revolution’s Alex Tabarrok has a good post responding to recent attacks on the extension of credit to poor borrowers (and in particular, this rant from Nouriel Roubini). Here is a taste: Roubini and others generating hysteria about defaults in the mortgage market are credit snobs – they think credit is something that only the ... Tabarrok on the Credit Snobs
