A Letter to the Nation’s New Leaders: Right Now, the American Dream of Homeownership Is in Crisis

By Damian Eales

The average single-family home in America costs $420,000. If home prices had simply kept pace with inflation since 1963, that home would cost just $185,000.

Regulations and other costs buyers bear add more than $90,000 to the price of a new home.

And supply is not meeting nationwide demand. America must build as many as 7.2 million new homes just to meet that demand, and the vast majority of them must be priced below $400,000.

The question of housing affordability has recently centered on real estate commissions. This is not the foremost factor affecting affordability. As a community, we need to address the issue head-on, in a way that does not compromise consumer protections like the ability for buyers to have their own agents.

If policymakers want to improve housing affordability, they must start by focusing on solutions that increase the housing supply. Doing that means taking steps to ease restrictions on buildable land, cutting red tape, and providing incentives such as tax credits to help builders build more homes faster than ever.

America must build as many as 7.2 million new homes just to meet that demand, and the vast majority of them must be priced below $400,000.

(Realtor.com)

Realtor.com® will work with our communities, economists, business leaders, leaders of housing and building associations, and, of course, leaders of government, to highlight the housing supply shortages we have in every state, as well as pragmatic solutions to solve this problem.

On behalf of those buyers who are price-locked out of the market, the real estate professionals who support them, and the homebuilders building more affordable homes, help us restore homeownership for all.

At Realtor.com, we’re for real solutions.

We hope that you’ll be part of them.