32: Daryl Fairweather – Property Taxes, Housing Affordability, and the American Housing Market

In this episode, we're joined by Daryl Fairweather, Chief Economist at Redfin. We talk about the importance of property/land taxation, the current state of the American housing market, as well as necessary reforms for housing abundance and affordability.

We cover:

• Introduction to Assessment Matters podcast 00:00

• Daryl’s bio and big ideas 00:35

• Daryl’s experience in behavioral and housing/land economics

• How does land use and land taxation make housing so unaffordable in the US?

• How does property tax policy affect housing? 1:52

• Taxes matter a lot, especially in states such as California

• Restrictive zoning and Prop 13 (property tax caps) make housing less affordable

• Development is penalized by property taxation that includes improvements

• Same flaws with zoning and property tax regimes observed all over the US

• The state of the US housing market 5:24

• Housing shortage and affordability crisis started well before the COVID-19 pandemic

• Interest (and mortgage) rates plus pandemic migration patterns

• Regional variations in the US

• Is it a good time to buy a home?

• What are the changes needed to make housing more affordable? 10:36

• Eliminate single-unit and other restrictive zoning

• Land value tax policy

• Get ahead of the issue in states that are not as far gone as places like California

• How to contact Daryl 12:12

• Substack: https://hatethegame.substack.com/

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/FairweatherPhD