About this episode

Jay Parsons discusses the complexities of rent affordability with guest Ryan Davis, highlighting the nuances in data interpretation.

Rent affordability is maybe the most misunderstood topic in housing — with bad takes commonly held among investors and policymakers and other stakeholders. In this episode, rental housing economist Jay Parsons breaks down fact versus fiction on the big topic of rent affordability. In particular, Jay explains why this topic is a prime example of how averages can be misleading. The data shows rent affordability is a deeply bifurcated issue where two seemingly conflicting trends can both be true: We have a severe shortage of low-income rental housing for those who need it, while at the same time we have had ample demand for higher-rent apartments and single-family rentals from renters who can easily afford it. Jay breaks down the data to show the facts, and offer up practical implications investors, developers, operators, lenders, policymakers and reporters. Additionally, for today's conversation, Jay welcomes in Witten Advisors CEO Ryan Davis, whose original research into the Census renter affordability data sheds light on how most researchers and advocates tend to oversimplify what is a very nuanced and bifurcated topic. Ryan shares why most researchers report affordability trends…

People in this episode

Host: Jay Parsons

Guest: Ryan Davis

Topics covered

• rent affordability
• housing economics
• data analysis
• investing
• policy implications

Keywords

• rent affordability
• housing
• Census data
• investors
• policymakers

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Witten Advisors

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