source: Brookings Institution/William Frey/May, 2014
Navigating through a headline!
Goosing the housing recovery? A Wall St. Journal story with a big headline and an even bigger arial picture of a housing development observed that pronouned “Suburbs Regain their Appeal”.
The numbers in the story are not compelling; overall cities are still growing slightly faster that the suburbs- and suburbs grew at a rate of .96%, roughly on par with the .95% growth a year earlier. Not much change.
Bloggers were quick to note that the definition of suburb is key- after all, infill and higher density are taking place- particularly if the suburbs are near mass transportation. The validity is questioned by “Bacon” the blogger.
Why not go to the source though. Note census data compiled by William Frey at the Brookings Inst itiute. The suburban growth is flat and the cities are recovering the ground they lost over the last 30 years as the Baby Boomers fled the cities.