Why homes are 'filtering' up from poor to wealthy buyers

Are American families better off than they were 30 and 60 years ago? Or are they struggling to hold on? Yes.

- KEVIN ERDMANN GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

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HOUSING SHORTAGES now often force families to out-compromise each other during the sale.

Not every family — not even the average family — is left worse off. But thousands give up on things they already had. Others pay a ransom in rent to delay giving up.

Economists call this "filtering." Historically, homes filtered from wealthier to less-wealthy people. In the years before 2008, they started filtering "up" in those coastal cities — meaning when a typical unit changed hands, the new resident tended to be wealthier than the last.

After the 2008 housing crisis, the problem went national. The U.S. rate of new home construction became nearly as low as it had been in New York City. Homes started filtering up across other American cities and towns, creating the same grinding realities from coast to coast.