Housing Affordability Follows Partisan Divide

"The housing crisis hurt Democratic- and Republican-leaning markets similarly, but today blue markets have lower affordability, lower homeownership, and greater income inequality," according to an article by Jed Kolko.

The article begins by examining the effects of the Great Recession on the housing markets of states, defining their politics as red or blue depending on how they voted in the 2012 presidential election. Kolko reports that the recession impacted red and blue states as follows: "The peak-to-trough price decline averaged 16% in red markets, 26% in light-blue markets, and 25% in dark-blue markets. But the relationship between price declines and redness or blueness was not statistically significant."

After showing that the recovery has lacked bias toward red or blue states, Kolko goes on to located disparities between red and blue states—namely with regard to affordability. "Looking across all 100 largest metros, the correlation between price-per-square-foot and 2012 vote margin was positive, high (0.63), and statistically significant. In fact, the only expensive red market was Orange County, CA, at $363 per square foot. There was a huge drop-off to the next-most-expensive red market—North Port-Bradenton-Sarasota, FL, at $150 per square foot."