Jonathan J Miller, Columnist

Costly City Housing Is an Economic Drag

Expensive and rising urban housing cost do more harm than good.

June 2, 2015 at 12:00 PM UTC

Jonathan Miller writes about the housing economy and other aspects of real estate. He began a real estate blog, the Matrix, in 2005, and has written a column for Curbed.com. He is co-founder of Miller Samuel, a residential real estate appraisal company, and the commercial valuation firm Miller Cicero.

Pretty and quaint, not great for the economy.
Photographer: Craig Warga/Bloomberg

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It's tough living in a big city -- the people, the traffic, the noise. Oh, and did we mention the cost of housing?

Contrary to conventional wisdom, high and rising housing costs in the U.S.'s biggest cities are not ideal for an economic recovery. Just the opposite: When housing costs take a big bite out of incomes, it diverts money that could be spent on local goods and services or invested in new businesses that stimulate growth.