Local3News in Chattanooga interviewed CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall about the effects of tariff cuts on affordability. “The inflation rate has been rising since April. So, it is now depending on which measure you look at, it’s a little over 3% per year,” said Dr. Howard Wall, director and chief economist of the…
11/1/25: New Apartments Stabilizing Chattanooga’s ‘Pressure Cooker’ Rental Market
The Chattanooga Times Free Press had a story about the state of the rental market in Chattanooga that included some comments from CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall. The article recounts how the addition of thousands of new units over the past five years has been followed by a reduction in rents and more…
11/1/25: Opinion – UTC Rollins College Research Details How Local Housing Affordability Declined
Clint Cooper, the Free Press editor at the Chattanooga Times Free Press, wrote an opinion piece base on the most recent CRER white paper, “Housing Affordability Trends in Chattanooga.” The piece outlined many of the findings in the research, especially that the main obstacle to housing affordability is high mortgage rates. Mortgage rates are still…
10/30/25: UAW Demands Job Security as VW Workers in Chattanooga Vote to Authorize Strike
A story on Newschannel9 in Chattanooga on the recent strike authorization vote by VW workers quoted CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall. “Strikes are never, never good for the local economy, especially a very large employer like that. If it lasts any length of time, you really will start noticing it, because it’s won’t…
10/29/25: What’s Going There? Two Large Subdivisions in Hixson, East Brainerd
The Chattanooga Times Free Press tracks new building projects and has an interactive map showing where they are. A new article includes commentary from CRER director and chief economist Howard Wall about his recent white paper on housing affordability: “People are still moving in,” Wall said by phone. “Not as rapidly as before, because that…