Taubman College Professor of practice in urban and regional planning and the real estate development program, Christopher Leinberger, recently co-authored an article, along with director of the Smart Strategy Institute Patrick Doherty, entitled, “The Next Real Estate Boom: How Housing (Yes, Housing) Can Turn the Economy Around,” published in the Nov./Dec. Washington Monthly.
Beginning the article with hopeful hypotheticals Leinberger suggests that the solution to America’s still-declining economy could be, in fact, what started it in the first place.
Identifying that real estate has been the culprit for causing two of the last three recessions–and recognizing that real estate (housing, commercial and industrial) represents 35 percent of the U.S. economy’s asset base–Leinberger states: “To speed up the economic recover now slowly underway, the real estate sector must get back into the game, just as it played a central role in the economic recoveries of past recessions.
Leinberger writes, “it is now possible to unleash latent private-sector demand by implementing reforms that will end our subsidies to sprawl and focus our nation on sustainability.” Conceding that a revival of the housing economy is neither stimulus nor austerity, Leinberger argues, “this approach would provide a new economic engine for America that can set us on a secure and prosperous path for years to come.”
To read the full article, click here.
