The review suggests that property-crime rates stabilized or even declined somewhat in the 1980's. An examination of the variable so often linked in the public's mind with property crime, unemployment, shows that the unemployment-crime relationship remains viable and is more complex than has been previously thought. Shifting to the notion of criminal opportunity, the author locates property- crime levels in differential exposure of property to crime risk. The primary determinant of the likelihood of a successful burglary, for example, is the behavior of the residents of the potential target home. Although property crime is viewed by many as a crime relatively easy to understand and thus to control, the author advises that it is a complex issue and therefore resistant to control. The primary limitation affecting the current state of knowledge about property crime is the deficiency of the data sources used to examine the distribution and causes of property crime. The social-control programs developed on the basis of the data are thus flawed. 2 tables