Report
The first two reports in this series on the May 2026 Zoning and Land Use Flexibility Survey showed that Americans broadly support starter homes, smaller lots, light-touch density, and homes near jobs when these reforms are described in practical terms. This third report examines why that support weakens among some Americans and identifies two direct barriers to support.
BY Tobias Peter + Edward J. Pinto ON 7 Jul 26
Report
This second report’s main finding is that support is broad, but not uniform. The clearest divides are ideology and perceived affordability severity.[2] Option 3 homes near jobs and amenities has the highest support among liberals, moderates, and conservatives. Option 2 small-scale infill in existing single-family neighborhoods is the most politically divided. Option 1 smaller lots in new neighborhoods falls in between. Respondents who see housing affordability as extremely or very serious are also much more supportive of all three reforms, especially with respect to Option 2, where the lift was 12 percentage points, about double the lift for Options 1 and 3. Perceived affordability pressure matters more than objective affordability pressure: people respond most strongly when they recognize affordability as a serious local problem.
BY Tobias Peter + Edward J. Pinto ON 1 Jul 26
Report
American Enterprise Institute
May 2026’s preliminary YoY HPA was 1.4%, the second lowest level of the series, up from 1.2% in April 2026 and down from 2.4% in May 2025.
BY Edward J. Pinto + Tobias Peter ON 1 Jul 26
Report
American Enterprise Institute
Our country has developed a range of undesirable new habits—political, social, and economic—over the past several decades. With steady population growth, we have managed to “afford” these, to progress despite them. We cannot count on that luxury under depopulation.
BY Nicholas Eberstadt ON 1 Jul 26
Report
American Enterprise Institute
Grade-level data show that students in kindergarten through third grade, who entered school after the pandemic, had similarly elevated absenteeism to cohorts that experienced schooling during the pandemic, suggesting a broad cultural change. Without additional resolve, about half of the pandemic-related increase in absenteeism could become the long-term baseline.
BY Nat Malkus ON 30 Jun 26
Report
The AEI Housing Center’s May 2026 Zoning and Land Use Flexibility Survey finds that Americans are open to practical housing-supply reforms. The survey tested three core reforms aligned with the Strong Foundations Playbook.
BY Tobias Peter + Edward J. Pinto ON 29 Jun 26
Working Paper
National Bureau of Economic Research
Economists have often shown far more enthusiasm for Pigouvian taxes than the general public has, perhaps because they have assumed away the messy costs that accompany these taxes. The fact that costs and distributional consequences arise implies that good policymaking is based on the size of any impact and the quantity of changes that an intervention implies.
BY Edward L. Glaeser + Paul S. Willen + Adam M. Guren + et al. ON 29 Jun 26
Report
National home price appreciation trends for April 2026.
BY Tobias Peter + Edward J. Pinto + Sissi Li ON 29 Jun 26
Working Paper
AEI Foreign and Defense Policy Working Paper Series
The US should press the interim Syrian government to enter a formal peace with Israel based on mutual recognition, end to attacks on the Syrian Druze population as a prerequisite for Israeli withdrawal from undisputed Syrian territory, and join the US in its recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
BY Brett D. Schaefer + Danielle Pletka ON 24 Jun 26
