News

North Carolina’s 800,000 Latinos represent the fastest-growing segment of the population and a significant potential market for the housing industry, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill report in a new study. But a range of obstacles inhibit homeowner and renter markets from growing, researchers said in the study, The State of Latino Housing in North Carolina 2015. Given the state’s aging native-born population, the much-younger Latino … Continued

North Carolina’s 800,000 Latinos represent the fastest-growing segment of the population and a significant potential market for the housing industry, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill report in a new study.

Low-income consumers were able to save more thanks to a prepaid credit card with an optional “impulse” savings feature developed by Piggymojo, a new center report shows

Nearly all consumers make occasional impulse purchases and, generally speaking, enjoy doing so. While saving money may also be enjoyable, that enjoyment may be delayed, often far into the future, when savings are needed or used. Developers of a pilot savings program, called Piggymojo, sought to capitalize on impulsivity to promote saving among low-income consumers, for whom unpredictable fluctuations in income and expenses leave little room in their budgets to … Continued

The economist and economics Ph.D. candidate is honored for his research on home maintenance and improvement spending among lower-income homeowners.

Researchers find that loan modifications reduce house payment stress for delinquent home loan borrowers.

The UNC Center for Community Capital has received a $2 million grant from the Ford Foundation to continue its long-term study of lower-income homeownership before, during and after one of the worst economic crises in the nation’s history. “Homeownership has offered Americans a pathway into the middle class and the American Dream for more than 80 years,” said center director Roberto G. Quercia, chair of the University of North Carolina … Continued

The UNC Center for Community Capital seeks partners to fund and pilot a new financial capability program, Pocket Change, designed to help low-income youth in North Carolina age 12-19 develop financial socialization skills that enable them to become financially secure adults.

Experts from the UNC Center for Community Capital will discuss homeownership’s impact and homeowner decision-making at the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management’s fall conference Nov. 6-7 in Albuquerque, N.M.

Researchers investigate the causes of homeownership’s nonfinancial benefits to suggest ways those benefits may be extended to renters.