A growing share of Americans say affordable housing is a major problem where they live (2024)
Prospective homebuyers and renters across the United States have seen prices surge and supply plummet during the coronavirus pandemic. Amid these circ*mstances, about half of Americans (49%) say the availability of affordable housing in their local community is a major problem, up 10 percentage points from early 2018, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in October 2021.
How we did this
This Pew Research Center analysis about the levels of concern among Americans about the affordability of housing draws from a Center survey designed to understand Americans’ views and preferences for where they live.
The survey of 9,676 U.S. adults was conducted from Oct. 18 to 24, 2021. Everyone who took part is a member of Pew Research Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about theATP’s methodology.
“Middle income” is defined here as two-thirds to double the median annual family income for panelists on the American Trends Panel. “Lower income” falls below that range; “upper income” falls above it.Read themethodologyfor more details.
References to respondents who live in urban, suburban or rural communities are based on respondents’ answer to the following question: “How would you describe the community where you currently live? (1) urban, (2) suburban, (3) rural.”
Another 36% of U.S. adults said in the fall that affordable housing availability is a minor problem in their community, while just 14% said it is not a problem.
Americans’ concerns about the availability of affordable housing have outpaced worries about other local issues. The percentage of adults who say this is a major problem where they live is larger than the shares who say the same about drug addiction (35%), the economic and health impacts of COVID-19 (34% and 26%, respectively) and crime (22%).
Opinions on the question of housing affordability differ by a variety of demographic factors, including income, race and ethnicity, and age. A majority of adults living in lower-income households (57%) say availability of affordable housing is a major issue in their community, larger than the shares of those in middle- (47%) or upper-income households (42%) who say it is a major problem.
Fewer than half of White adults (44%) say that availability of affordable housing is a major problem where they live – lower than the shares of Black (57%), Hispanic and Asian American adults (both 55%) who say the same.
Adults under 50 are more likely than their older counterparts to say affordable housing availability is a major problem locally. More than half of adults ages 18 to 29 and 30 to 49 say this (55% in both age groups), compared with smaller shares of those 50 to 64 and those 65 and older (44% and 39%, respectively).
Americans’ perceptions of this issue also vary based on where they live. About six-in-ten U.S. adults living in urban areas (63%) say that the availability of affordable housing in their community is a major problem, compared with 46% of suburban residents and 40% of those living in rural areas.
Regardless of income level, city dwellers generally tend to view affordable housing availability as a bigger issue than those living in the suburbs or rural areas. Two-thirds of urban adults with lower household incomes (66%) say affordable housing in their area is a major problem, compared with 56% of suburban dwellers with lower incomes and 52% of those with lower incomes living in rural areas. Among upper-income adults, 58% of those living in urban areas say housing affordability is a major problem, compared with 43% of upper-income Americans living in suburban places and 25% of upper-income rural residents.
There are also regional differences. Around seven-in-ten Americans living in the West (69%) say affordable housing availability is a major problem locally. This compares with 49% of Northeasterners, 44% of Americans in the South and 33% of those living in the Midwest.
Since 2018, there have been increases across demographic groups in the shares who say that the availability of affordable housing in their community is a major problem. For example, 55% of adults under 30 now say this is a major problem – a 16 percentage point rise from the 39% who said so in 2018. The share of adults ages 30 to 49 who hold this view has also risen from 42% in 2018 to 55% last year.
About six-in-ten Democrats and independents who lean to the Democratic Party (59%) said in 2021 that affordable housing availability is a major problem in their community, compared with 36% of Republicans and GOP-leaning independents.
These partisan differences remain when looking separately at those who live in urban, suburban and rural communities. Among urban residents, two-thirds of Democrats (67%) see the availability of affordable housing locally as a major problem, compared with 54% of Republicans in urban areas. In suburban or rural communities, smaller majorities of Democrats hold this view (56% in the suburbs and 54% in rural places), compared with around a third of Republicans in those areas (35% and 31%, respectively).
There is a shortage of 7.3 million affordable and available rental homes for renters with extremely low incomes in the US, up 8 percent from 6.8 million in 2019. The lack of housing options for renters with extremely low incomes are driving the overall affordable housing shortage across the country.
Home prices are up more than 30% over the past couple of years, making homeownership unaffordable for millions of Americans. Rents are rising sharply too. The biggest culprit is this historic housing shortage. Strong demand and low supply mean higher prices.
Over 10.9 million of the nation's 43.7 million renter households have extremely low incomes. Only 7.3 million rental homes are affordable to extremely low-income renters, assuming households should spend no more than 30% of their incomes on housing.
The imbalance between supply and demand; resulted from of strong economic growth creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs (which increases demand for housing) and the insufficient construction of new housing units to provide enough supply to meet the demand.
About six-in-ten U.S. adults living in urban areas (63%) say that the availability of affordable housing in their community is a major problem, compared with 46% of suburban residents and 40% of those living in rural areas.
The cost of buying a home is drifting further out of financial reach for the average American, according to a report from Redfin. The real estate website analyzed homes that went on sale last year and found that only 21% of them were affordable, meaning that nearly 80% of homes were outside the typical buyer's budget.
The United States is not building enough homes to account for the number of people setting up their own households. As a result, there is a sizable shortage of new homes after more than a decade of under-building relative to population growth, according to a new analysis from Realtor.com released Wednesday.
If house prices rise, then the wealth effect is likely to cause an increase in consumer spending. This will cause higher Aggregate Demand (AD), and it is likely to cause an increase in Real GDP and a higher rate of economic growth.
Record-breaking numbers of families cannot afford a decent place to call home: Nationally, there is a shortage of more than 7 million affordable homes for our nation's 10.8 million plus extremely low-income families.
Housing is the key to reducing intergenerational poverty and increasing economic mobility. Research shows that increasing access to affordable housing is the most cost-effective strategy for reducing childhood poverty and increasing economic mobility in the United States.
Low-Income Households Are Particularly Affected by Unaffordable Housing. Households with the lowest incomes are by far the most likely to have housing costs that are unaffordable.
The housing market crash of 2008 remains one of the most significant events in the history of the United States housing market. It was caused by a combination of factors, including the subprime mortgage crisis, high levels of debt, and a lack of regulation in the financial sector.
There simply aren't enough houses on the market to meet the demand that's out there right now. According to the National Association of Realtors, the supply for homes in the US that are for sale reached a record low in 2022.
The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. The crisis led to a severe economic recession, with millions of people losing their jobs and many businesses going bankrupt.
If you're wondering how an individual's challenges stemming from a lack of affordable housing impacts their community, the issues noted above can cause: Increased homelessness. Lost tax revenue for counties, towns and cities. Greater burden on public services, like libraries and mass transit.
After falling in 2023 and 2024, home prices are predicted to plateau in 2025 before rising again at just above the rate of inflation. However, due to the spike in home values from 2020 through 2022 due to record-low mortgage rates, median sales prices will take at least until 2027 to regain the highs of mid-2022.
DEC. 8, 2022 — Over 40% (19 million) of renter households in the country spent more than 30% of their income on housing costs during the 2017-2021 period, according to new American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.
From 1977 to 2020, in 2020 inflation-adjusted dollars, state and local government spending on housing and community development programs increased from $14 billion to $59 billion, an increase of 309 percent.
The most expensive state to move to in 2023 is Hawai'i, with an average home price of $636,400. Following up is Washington DC, with an average house price of $618,100. In third place is California, with an average house price of $538,000. That's an extreme difference between Arkansas and California.
That's largely due to the shortage of housing supply, which has hit middle income buyers the hardest. Thanks to elevated mortgage rates, the housing market is missing around 320,000 homes priced at or below $256,000 – the maximum price a middle-income buyer earning up to $75,000 can afford.
Between 2017 and 2021, 31% of households spent 30% or more of their income on housing, according to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. This number is made up of 21% of owned households, and half of rented households.
WHO IS ELIGIBLE? Public housing is limited to low-income families and individuals. An HA determines your eligibility based on: 1) annual gross income; 2) whether you qualify as elderly, a person with a disability, or as a family; and 3) U.S. citizenship or eligible immigration status.
Access to affordable housing improves an employer's ability to attract and retain employees and remain competitive the in global economy. Affordable housing also reduces social service costs by providing targeted health and social services and helps end the cycle of poverty.
Share: Housing's combined contribution to GDP generally averages 15-18%, and occurs in two basic ways: Residential investment (averaging roughly 3-5% of GDP), which includes construction of new single-family and multifamily structures, residential remodeling, production of manufactured homes, and brokers' fees.
Building a typical two-bedroom house produces around 80 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, which is equal to the emissions of about five new cars. Building bigger buildings, such as commercial and industrial facilities, naturally creates more emissions.
GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) – A new study from the website Craftjack looks into how the United States is buying homes in 2023. The study showed that 61 percent of Americans can't afford to buy a house in this current market.
This amounts to an estimated 3.7 million people reporting a form of housing insecurity. Additionally, about 14 percent of respondents – or an estimated 7.7 million adults – were behind on rent.
When housing costs are more affordable and housing opportunities are more readily available, there is a lower likelihood of households becoming homeless, and households who do become homeless can exit homelessness more quickly and with greater likelihood of sustaining that housing long-term.
Affordability achieves customer loyalty as it helps to grow and expand an organization's market share. Affordability provides direction, setting the path for an organization's pursuit of continuous improvement.
Most of the blame is on the mortgage originators or the lenders. That's because they were responsible for creating these problems. After all, the lenders were the ones who advanced loans to people with poor credit and a high risk of default.
More than 1.8 billion people around the world do not have adequate housing, an estimated 15 million people are forcibly evicted every year, and 150 million more are living in homelessness.
When will the housing market crash? Actually, economists do not think it will. Housing economists point to five main reasons that the market will not crash anytime soon: low inventory, lack of new-construction housing, large amounts of new buyers, strict lending standards and a drop in foreclosures.
The national monthly average cost to own a home is $1,558. Estimate assumes 10% down payment and a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage based on national median sale price on 12/10/2022 and either latest weighted average interest rates for each metro's state or national rate based on date of Zillow sale price data.
Studies have shown that for the past 40 years, housing supply has not kept pace with demand, resulting in a housing shortage ranging between 2 million and 6 million homes. Yet across America, a combination of recalcitrant homeowners and outdated zoning laws routinely block attempts to build more housing.
There are between 1.5 million and 6 million fewer homes in the U.S. than there are households ready to occupy them. The proximate cause of this mismatch isn't hard to discern: Over the past ten years, the number of housing units per 1,000 people in the U.S. has actually fallen.
It predicts a month-over-month increase of 0.8% from March 2023 to April 2023 and a year-over-year increase of 4.6% from March 2023 to March 2024. These forecasts indicate a positive outlook for the housing market, projecting further growth in the coming months.
The United States subprime mortgage crisis was a multinational financial crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010 that contributed to the 2007–2008 global financial crisis. The crisis led to a severe economic recession, with millions of people losing their jobs and many businesses going bankrupt.
The report finds a national shortage of 7.3 million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renters – those with incomes at or below either the federal poverty line, or 30% of their area median income (whichever is greater).
“Typically, a housing market crash happens when a housing market bubble bursts,” Lippi explained. “A housing bubble occurs when the demand grows as more buyers continue to enter the market. This causes a shortage in supply, driving prices up. However, this phenomenon doesn't last.
The housing market crash of 2008 was a catastrophic event in the history of the United States housing market, leading to a severe economic recession that impacted millions of Americans.
In 2023, the national annual median price for homes for sale is projected to rise by another 5.4%, which is less than half the pace seen in 2022. Even if a homeowner decides to sell their home, they will likely have a lot of equity in it.
Homebuyer.com data analysis indicates that, for first-time home buyers, June 2023 is a good time to buy a house relative to later in the year. This article provides an unbiased look at current mortgage rates, housing market conditions, and market sentiment.
Numerous health issues are linked to substandard home conditions. These include an increase in accidents as well as infectious diseases, respiratory problems, cardiovascular diseases, and many others. The housing crisis has a significant impact on people's mental health as well.
The baseline forecast is for growth to fall from 3.4 percent in 2022 to 2.8 percent in 2023, before settling at 3.0 percent in 2024. Advanced economies are expected to see an especially pronounced growth slowdown, from 2.7 percent in 2022 to 1.3 percent in 2023.
Full-year 2023 growth is expected to be +1.0%. If economists are right (they always underestimate recession severity), it would be the mildest recession in history.
Are we in a housing bubble right now? While a housing price correction is expected, we aren't in a housing bubble. Demand for homes remains high, and there are fewer home sellers than there were in 2022. And while the market is cooling, experts don't expect an actual housing crash or a housing bubble burst in 2023.
Introduction: My name is Domingo Moore, I am a attractive, gorgeous, funny, jolly, spotless, nice, fantastic person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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