Housing impacts individual economic well-being, influences wealth-building opportunities, and is vital to the overall economy. Despite the critical importance of housing to the U.S. economy, existing long-run housing price series are limited, particularly before the 1970s.
The Historical Housing Prices (HHP) Project, now housed at the Philadelphia Fed, began with support from the National Science Foundation (SES-1918554), the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, and Trinity College in Dublin, with principal investigators Allison Shertzer (now at the Philadelphia Fed), Ronan Lyons (Trinity College Dublin), and Rowena Gray (University of California, Merced). (The Philadelphia Fed did not receive funding from external funders in connection with this project.)
As part of our efforts to ensure a strong overall economy, the Philadelphia Fed identifies housing-related issues and informs solutions. This project aims to bring new data on the price of housing over the long run to inform research and policymaking.
