On Foxnews today

Foxnews is running a story on rent increases today in which I was featured in my capacity as an economist.

Featured Videos Shattered Dreams: Rising rents May 16, 2012
 Increasing costs cause disturbing trend

Also: Featured Videos Rising Rents a Growing Problem May 16, 2012 - 1:46
Many moving in with family or friends

 

Summer 2012 Class at CU-Denver

The class web site for my summer class, which I'll be teaching at CU-Denver, is now up.

Recent Clippings, April 1, 2012

Denver Post, March 27, 2012

"Jefferson Park apartment project in Denver's Highland to include 332 units, retail space"

While there are a number of apartment projects under construction in the nearby Highland neighborhood, nothing suggests that the area is in danger of being overbuilt, said Ryan McMaken, spokesman for the Colorado Division of Housing.

The downtown vacancy rate is 4.4 percent and the vacancy rate for northwest Denver is 5.5 percent.

"I don't see anything in our data that would raise any red flags for this project," McMaken said.

The rental rates also are consistent with those throughout the metro area. Of the 108,000 apartments included in the survey, only 3 percent lease for $1,500 or more, McMaken said.

"It gets higher the closer you get to downtown," he said.

Recent clippings: Christian Science Monitor

My latest at the Christian Science Monitor:

"The Pentagon is a gas guzzler"

The Pentagon spent $17.3 billion on oil in 2011, a 26 percent increase from 2010. This despite the Pentagon's public efforts to "go green."

By Ryan McMaken, Guest blogger / March 12, 2012

"Half of Americans don't pay income tax. So what."

The increase in reliance on government assistance is the problem, not a lack of people who pay income tax.

By Ryan McMaken, Guest blogger / February 25, 2012

"Why we're paying more for corn"

Thanks to government subsidies supporting a specific type of corn farm, land value is increasing, and prices are going up. The same is true of other federally supported crops.

By Ryan McMaken, Guest blogger / February 24, 2012

Clippings: 9News on home purchases

Housing prices flat in Colorado and the West

By the way, I look absolutely horrible in that screenshot. So, as Exhibit B, I have included a charming picture of me and my saintly mother, which also shows what a magnificently devoted son I am:

March 1: Fox31 story on apartment rents

Fox31 covered apartment rents last week. The story is here.

Clippings, February 15-20, 2012

KUNC: Feb 16, 2012
Ryan McMaken, an economist with the state Division of Housing, says while that’s a good sign, it’s not clear yet how the recent multi-state, multi-billion dollar foreclosure settlement will impact that trend.

“I’m now hearing that a lot of these servicers had been holding back a little bit in terms of foreclosure processing as they waited for the outcome of the Attorney General’s agreement, the settlement that came down last week. And so now some people are expecting those numbers to come up a little bit.”

Denver Business Journal, February 16, 2012
“Foreclosure filings during January fell to levels well below any other January since 2008, and this continues a trend of diminished foreclosure filings activity that we’ve been seeing since the fall of 2010,” Ryan McMaken, a spokesman with the Colorado Division of Housing, said in a press release. “In year-over-year comparisons, foreclosure filings have now fallen for 14 months in a row, which suggests a well-established trend at this point.”

Sacramento Bee, February 16, 2012 (Associated Press)
Housing division spokesman Ryan McMaken says there have been some indications that lenders have been delaying foreclosure proceedings until after the deal was finalized.

Denver Post, February 16, 2012
January 2012's filings total was the lowest January total reported in five years, according to Ryan McMaken, a spokesman with the Colorado Division of Housing.

"Foreclosure filings during January fell to levels well below any other January since 2008, and this continues a trend of diminished foreclosure filings activity that we've been seeing since the fall of 2010," said McMaken.

Two commentary articles of mine were picked up by the Christian Science Monitor:

Hillary Clinton's new job: At the world bank?
Christian Science Monitor
By Ryan McMaken, Guest blogger / February 20, 2012 Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks during a news conference at the State Department in ...

Spanish real estate bust leads to ghost towns
Christian Science Monitor
By Ryan McMaken, Guest blogger / February 17, 2012 A lone joggers runs past apartment blocks in Sesena in the Toledo Provence near Madrid, Spain.