Solved: Why the Housing Market Is Weak (Unresolved: How to Fix It)

---

So it's changing demographics—and not those seemingly endless foreclosures—that are keeping suburban housing markets weak. William Lucy, an urban and environmental planning professor, found that the path to a housing market rebound doesn't lie in new construction, but in rethinking housing needs based on changing demographics. Simply put: Homeowners over age 55 want to sell and downsize, and fewer 30- to 45-year-olds want to buy. Fixing this problem, however, will be far more difficult than identifying it.

Photo (cc) by Flickr user delbz.