Free Republic

What is the shelf life of a freshly baked donut? Two days, tops. But when it comes to an entirely different kind of donut—one that Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom described early in the pandemic when he measured the exodus of people from city centers to city suburbs—there appears to be no expiration date.... Since the pandemic, the country's 12 largest cities have cumulatively lost 8% of their downtown dwellers. Three-fifths of the households that left moved to nearby suburbs... What does this mean, then, for the country's biggest cities? Painful choices that will likely involve cutting spending, raising taxes and...

The number of encounters with illegal immigrants at the border has passed 2 million in a single fiscal year for the first time in U.S. history, according to new U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) statistics released on Monday. Southwest land border encounters jumped to 203,598 in the month of August from 200,195 the prior month. Of those encountered in August, 22% "had at least one prior encounter in the previous 12 months." The total number of encounters so far in the current fiscal year, which ends on September 30, is now 2,150,639, according to CBP. For comparison, last fiscal...

In nine weeks, the borough has seen just 25 luxury homes enter into contract, an 88% decline year over year Buyers have signed deals for 25 luxury Manhattan homes since the crisis started nine weeks ago, compared to 207 contracts during the same time span last year, according to Olshan—a remarkable 88% decline year-over-year. The latest contracts highlighted some ways in which the crisis has changed buyers’ priorities to favor perks such as outdoor space. The most expensive deal, for example, was a three-bedroom condo in one of the new Waterline Square buildings, a trifecta of glass towers each designed...

OWNING your own house is as much the Australian dream as the American dream, and it's one that feels increasingly out of reach for many. But when one user on Quora pondered whether it was ultimately better to rent or own your own home, blogger and investor James Altucher penned this highly controversial response: I am sick of me writing about this. Do you ever get sick of yourself? I am sick of me. But every day I see more propaganda about the American Dream of owning the home. I see codewords a $15 trillion dollar industry uses to hypnotise...

The government took another step toward solving the housing crisis on Sunday, as Minister of the Interior Eli Yishai signed off on a building plan for the city of Harish that will include 8,800 new housing units, which are to be marketed to young couples in the hareidi-religious community. Construction on some housing units will begin within weeks. The plan also includes space for businesses, public buildings and schools. One Member of Knesset was not pleased with the new plan. MK Jamal Zahalka (Balad) accused the government of “widening the city of Harish and suffocating Arab towns in Wadi Ara.”...

<p>SACRAMENTO (AP) - Construction crews wielding saws, hammers and nail guns pushed up the most new houses this year in California since 1989 and the most apartments since 1990 - but it still isn't enough to ease the nation's worst housing shortage, experts say.</p>