The Wall Street Journal is carrying a story about growth in many big cities since the last census.
The paper reports the recession is having a chilling effect on suburban sprawl. Researchers also predict migration to the Sun Belt is cooling.
Philadelphia, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Chicago and Columbus, Ohio are among the big winners.

Detroit and Cleveland, not so much.
“Cities are showing a continued vitality as hubs of activity even as some suburban and exurban areas go through tough times,” said William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution. “It emphasizes the …

Columbus’s downtown condo market is (of course) suffering under the current housing bust, Columbus’ alt-weekly, The Other Paper, reports.
This is worrisome because the city had vested its hopes for revitalizing downtown on a influx of residential young professionals.
Condo sales account for 2 percent less of overall sales than they did before the bust and many new downtown condo developments are half empty, the paper reports.
This must be happening elsewhere. What will the timing of the economic downturn mean for this relatively new, and once-hot real estate market?
Tweet

The Ohio House of representatives has passed a moratorium on foreclosures, The Columbus Dispatch reports.
House Bill 3 will place a six-month moratorium on foreclosures, under certain conditions.

Tweet

It’s kinda nice to read a story about the housing crisis that isn’t set in my backyard (Cleveland) for once.
This time, my hometown of Columbus is front and center in the sad story of houses without owners. A neighborhood in west Columbus was found to have the highest vacancy rate in the country, according to an Associated Press analysis, based on Housing and Urban Development and Postal Service data.
This is kinda unusual because Columbus is generally regarded to be the golden child of Ohio in these parts.
I know the Columbus …

The Urbanophile blog has aggregated and analyzed the results of the 2008 census, showing modest gains for regional winners Indianapolis and Columbus while reflecting continuing decline in Detroit and Cleveland.
The national story is that migration has slowed, the Urbanophile reports, but that is likely due to the strained economy offering fewer attractive distant positions and bringing home sales to a standstill.
Sun Belt cities, of course, lead the pack, with Austin and Charlotte topping the list. Meanwhile, Detroit and Cleveland he refers to as “basket-cases.” He notes however, that while Detroit’s …