Browsing by Author "Lee, Hyojung"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Are Millennials leaving town? Reconciling peak Millennials and youthification hypotheses
    Lee, Hyojung (2021-01-11)
    Are Millennials leaving town? Yes, they are. Are young adults leaving town? No, they are not. The seemingly contradicting answers are due to the fact that age and birth cohort are distinct concepts. Showing how these two phenomena can coexist, this paper aims to provide detailed and timely information on how Millennials are faring compared to previous generations in the United States. Using the 1962-2019 Current Population Survey (CPS), the paper first analyzes the current status of Millennials, in terms of various demographic and socio-economic dimensions, and compares them with those of older generations at the same ages. The results indicate that Millennials did experience delays in transition into adulthood, but they have started to catch up in recent years. Then this paper examines the residential location of young adults and Millennials across metropolitan status, and across urban and suburban areas of the largest 50 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the United States. The analysis based on the confidential version of the 2006-2019 American Community Survey (ACS) microdata confirms that the early Millennials have started to migrate from urban to suburban areas, consistent with the peak Millennial hypothesis, and that the urban presence of young adults has increased over time, consistent with the youthification hypothesis. Reconciling the two hypotheses, this paper discusses the implications of ongoing demographic shifts for the future urban landscape. Highlights Early Millennials have started to migrate to suburbs as they age into their 30s. Yet, the presence of young adults age 25-34 in urban areas has also grown. This study reconciles the two seemingly conflicting trends with empirical evidence. Policymakers need to address the shift in Millennial demand towards suburban homes. Policymakers should also expect sustained demand for urban living among young adults.
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    Bank adaptation to neighborhood change: Mortgage lending and the Community Reinvestment Act
    Lee, Hyojung; Bostic, Raphael W. (2020-03)
    This research explores whether banks strategically leverage regulatory rules for the Community Reinvestment Act that fix a neighborhood's eligibility status over a decade based on a neighborhood's economic trajectory over that decade. Using 2004-2011 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data, we find that banks approve loans more frequently in those neighborhoods that are most rapidly improving, and that this effect is stronger if the neighborhoods are CRA-eligible low- and moderate-income (LMI) tracts. We find the "moving up" CRA premium ranges in magnitude from a 2 to 13 percent reduction in the likelihood an application is not approved. These results suggest that banks learn which neighborhoods are most rapidly improving and funnel activity to those places to reduce default risk while complying with the fair lending regulation. The results imply a potential unanticipated consequence of the regulation is that it changes the distribution of resources within the target population.
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    Public responses to COVID-19 case disclosure and their spatial implications
    Lee, Kwan Ok; Lee, Hyojung (2021-10-25)
    We study how the public changes their mobility and retail spending patterns as precautionary responses to the disclosed location of COVID-19 cases. To look into the underlying mechanisms, we investigate how such change varies spatially and whether there is any spatial spillover or substitution. We use the daily data of cell phone-based mobility and credit card transactions between February 10 and May 31 in both 2019 and 2020 in Seoul, South Korea, and employ the empirical approach analyzing the year-over-year percent change for the mobility and consumption outcomes. Results report that one additional COVID-19 case within the last 14 days decreased nonresident inflow and retail spending by 0.40 and 0.65 percentage points, respectively. Then, we also find evidence of spatial heterogeneity: the mobility and retail performances of neighborhoods with higher residential population density were more resilient to COVID-19 case information while neighborhoods with higher levels of land-use diversity and retail agglomeration experienced a greater localized demand shock. This heterogeneity is not negligible. For example, one additional COVID-19 case in neighborhoods in the bottom 20% for population density led to a decline of 1.2 percentage points in retail spending, while other neighborhoods experienced a less negative impact. Finally, we find a significant spatial spillover effect of disclosed COVID-19 information instead of spatial substitution. One additional COVID-19 case in geographically adjacent areas within the last 14 days reduced nonresident inflow and retail spending in the subject neighborhood by 0.06 and 0.09 percentage points, respectively.
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    Regulatory Utilization: A Novel Measure of Public Land Use Controls Comparable Across Space and Time and Calculable from Open-Source Data
    Gordner III, Gerald Marvin (Virginia Tech, 2022-06-01)
    Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, housing prices have risen sharply and ubiquitously, with the highest jumps frequently occurring in previously sleepy markets like Boise City, Idaho (FHFA, 2021). One explanation touted in the media and in "YIMBY" activist circles is the restrictive effect of land use regulation on housing supply. Although economic theory generally accords with this explanation, attempts to quantify the effects of land use regulations on housing supply have faced significant conceptual and practical challenges. Conceptually, land use regulations are difficult to measure because regulations are multidimensional, dynamic and political, among other challenges. Practically, there is no national database of land use regulations, so researchers have typically gathered their own data and created their own measures of regulatory stringency, either directly—typically by reading and interpreting hundreds of pages of legalese per city or surveying thousands of urban planners—or indirectly—by connecting land use regulations to a different, more easily measured, quality like time required for a permit or percentage of permits accepted, or inferring effects from natural experiments. Methodological differences between time periods studied, types of regulations measured, numbers and types of jurisdictions included, and level of spatial analysis have frustrated efforts to unify the lessons of each study into a coherent whole (Gyourko and Molloy 2015). What is needed is a way to quantify and analyze land use regulations that is: a) Easily calculated from readily available open-source data b) Comparable within and across geographic areas at multiple scales c) Comparable within and across geographic areas over time This thesis explores an original measurement that meets the criteria above: regulatory utilization, which is the used proportion of a regulatory limit. It defines Ru and demonstrates its calculation from municipal GIS and administrative data. It explores the advantages and disadvantages compared to current approaches. And it demonstrates a method for combining many different Ru values into two aggregate metrics: density utilization and bulk utilization. The next section relates these aggregates to 3 important topics in real estate economics: real options, price elasticity of supply, and land leverage. It continues by suggesting applications in identifying and interpreting neighborhood change, calculating a "build score" (similar to a "walk score") for parcels, and estimating the impact of policy reforms. Directions for future research are outlined in the conclusion.
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    Trajectories of Individual Behavior in the US Housing Market
    Choi, Seungbee (Virginia Tech, 2022-06-06)
    Three essays in this dissertation explore the behavior of individuals in response to the housing crisis and its consequences, and the impact of the pandemic on the short-term rental markets. The first essay examines the economic outcomes of young people who have returned to their parents' home, using data from 2003-2017 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 Cohort (NLSY 97). The economic outcomes of boomerang movers did not improve compared to the period of independent living, and the income gap with young people who remained independent widened. The residential movement of young people who make boomerang moves has an impact on their income, but this effect is short-lived. Going back to a parental house changes the region and urban form significantly, and movement of urban form from the central city to the suburban and from the suburban to out of the MSA has a negative impact on income. Findings from the study suggest implications. First, more affordable housing should be provided to reduce boomerang moves. Second, ways to increase job opportunities should be explored to reduce the short-term negative impact of boomerang move. Finally, education and vocational training opportunities must be increased to close the income gap among young people. The second essay seeks to answer the following questions through the experiences of individual households due to the foreclosure. First, did foreclosed households regain homeownership? Second, is there a relationship between socio-demographic characteristics of foreclosed household and regaining homeownership? Third, where do homeowners who have lost their homes migrate? Finally, what characteristics of the neighborhood help foreclosed households recover? While previous studies have focused on the resilience of housing markets and regions, this study explores the link between regional characteristics and individual household recovery. The recovery of financially disadvantaged households is an important issue for communities and states. Identifying the mechanism that is responsible for household recovery has implications for implementing programs to aid household recovery. This study primarily relies on the 2005 -2019 Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). Since 2009, PSID has added survey questions about foreclosure; Whether a foreclosure process has begun, the year and month of the start, the result of the process, and whether a foreclosed home is a primary residence. The findings of this study suggest that the government's recovery assistance program should aim to support relocation to areas with lower poverty rates and higher job and educational opportunities. The final essay explores changes in short-term rentals resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. To identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, this study uses New York City's Airbnb listing data from Inside Airbnb (IA), as well as supplemental data such as American Community Survey (ACS) data. Change in the number of STRs is divided into (1) the number of units left the platform and (2) the number of new units. The former relates to the survival of existing STR units and, the latter to the location choice of new units. The results show that the impact of several variables on survival and generation mechanisms changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the survival mechanism and the generation mechanism of short-term rentals are different, they should be considered separately in regulating the STR to stabilize local housing markets.