David Brand
David Brand covers housing and real estate with an equity lens, treating stories about buildings and land as stories about tenant rights, public money and political power. He is a housing reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, focusing on housing and politics in and around New York City.
Housing policy, rent regulation and equity
Brand sits on WNYC’s Economics & Equity team, where his housing beat revolves around how laws, boards and agencies shape daily life for renters. He reports on decisions by the Rent Guidelines Board, explaining how rent increases for roughly 1 million regulated apartments translate into higher monthly costs and what those hikes mean for tenants on one- and two-year leases. His coverage emphasizes regulated housing, rent stabilization and enforcement, centering tenants rather than market statistics or luxury listings.
Across his work he treats housing policy as a core part of the region’s economic and racial equity debates, not a niche technical topic. He tracks proposals and votes, breaks down ranges and percentages, and shows how those numbers land in actual apartments. That approach distinguishes him from a generic real estate reporter who might focus on price trends alone; Brand follows who sets the rules, who benefits from them and who pays the cost.
Real estate schemes and property risk
Brand investigates the darker edges of the housing market, including scams and schemes that target homeowners and renters. In one report, he details how homes worth hundreds of millions of dollars are at risk of deed theft and other real estate schemes, laying out how fraudulent actors try to strip owners of their properties and how regulators and law enforcement respond. He connects these cases to broader concerns about consumer protection and the security of long-held family homes.
These investigations show his focus on housing as a site of vulnerability and exploitation, not just investment. He explains the mechanics of fraud, highlights gaps in oversight and gives readers concrete warning signs to watch for. That watchdog orientation sets his real estate coverage apart from transactional reporting on sales and listings.
Development projects and affordable housing commitments
Brand reports on large, complex development deals, with particular attention to how public subsidies and private timelines intersect with affordable housing promises. In his coverage of the proposed $700 million in state support for the Atlantic Yards project, he follows new developers’ commitments to deliver affordable housing by 2031 and examines how those pledges fit into years of delays and shifting plans. He tracks the relationship between government funding, developer obligations and the long-term supply of below-market apartments.
In this part of his beat, he treats real estate projects as political and fiscal decisions as much as construction stories. He looks at who controls land, how deals are structured and when residents can realistically expect new affordable units. His focus on deadlines, financing and accountability makes these development pieces useful to readers concerned about housing access, not just skyline changes.
Service reporting for renters and multi-platform storytelling
Alongside policy and investigative work, Brand produces service journalism aimed directly at renters. He appears in short videos and social clips during peak moving season with “rules every renter needs to know,” offering practical tips to help people navigate leases, deposits, repairs and conflicts with landlords. As a housing reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, he turns his beat expertise into checklists and explainers designed to prevent common mistakes and shield tenants from avoidable problems.
His housing coverage extends into audio and digital formats, including explainer conversations on the housing crisis with local officials such as the Manhattan borough president. That multi-platform work builds on his experience reporting and hosting local news programs, grounding his stories in the concerns he hears directly from residents. The combination of policy reporting, investigative pieces and renter-facing guidance makes him a distinctive voice on the housing beat, with coverage that is both system-focused and immediately useful to people looking for or trying to hold onto a home.
4 more real estate journalists.
Aaron Moselle
Aaron Moselle covers housing and community development for WHYY’s PlanPhilly, filing for radio and the web. He stands out for connecting market data and government action to displacement, affordable homes, and the daily questions facing renters and homeowners. His core beat is housing affordability and market strain, including high mortgage rates, rising prices, tax assessments, and what they mean for buyers, sellers, and renters. He also reports on preserving and creating affordable housing, neighborhood rehab efforts, major real estate deals, and the effect of property sales on residents. His work often uses direct sourcing, plain language, and service journalism to make policy and finance clear.
Abbey Ferguson
Abbey Ferguson stands out for reporting how major commercial moves and redevelopment plans reshape the built environment, especially the real estate deals that reveal what land and retail space are worth. She covers Central Texas commercial real estate and development for KWTX, with recent stories on land valuation, major transactions, retail redevelopment, and infrastructure planning. Her work has tracked an $80 million data center site offer in Hill County, a prospective Trader Joe’s location in Waco, and a planning project using artificial intelligence to predict traffic patterns. She writes as a news reporter, staying close to the numbers, public records, brokers, officials, and landowners. Her stories turn contract prices, appraisal data, and listing history into plain explanations of what buyers are betting on and how those deals affect surrounding property owners and nearby businesses.
Alcynna Lloyd
Alcynna Lloyd reports on how housing markets shape people’s lives, focusing on the real decisions and trade-offs behind buying, renting, and moving home. She is a real estate reporter at Business Insider, where she writes about homebuying behavior, tiny homes, and multi-generational housing as part of the economy team’s coverage of real estate and the rental market. Her core beat is the consumer side of housing, with an emphasis on affordability and how market conditions affect ordinary buyers and renters. She writes analytical service pieces that compare different markets and track moves, migrations, and life changes tied to housing. Her stories combine economic context, market data, and detailed personal narratives, and she also covers startups and rising real estate talent to show how industry decisions affect everyday housing choices.
Aldo Svaldi
Aldo Svaldi treats residential real estate as a window into the Colorado economy, explaining how housing trends reflect jobs, income, business activity and public policy. He is a long-tenured business reporter who covers the Colorado economy, economic development and residential real estate. His beat centers on mortgage costs, construction pipelines, buyer behavior and banking, with a focus on housing pressures and affordability. He reports on segments such as entry-level, move-up and higher-end homes, showing how financing costs, supply constraints and demand shifts affect each. His work is data-forward, using economic indicators, reports and forecasts to track cycles, turning points and structural issues. He scrutinizes research findings and pairs expert analysis with interviews and on-the-ground observations to show how policy, corporate moves and financial decisions shape housing demand, prices and development patterns.