An affordability crisis is making some young Americans give up on ever owning a home
Americans are living through the toughest housing market in a generation and, for some young people, the quintessential dream of owning a home is slipping away.
Mortgage rates surged in recent years, hitting the highest levels in more than two decades last fall. While rates have come down slightly since then, home prices remain painfully elevated and a limited inventory of housing is still failing to keep up with demand. Such conditions mean that housing has become woefully unaffordable.
Falling mortgage rates in recent weeks have helped, but home prices could remain sticky, according to economists. It’s still a cruddy time to be hunting for a home, but it’s even worse for young, first-time buyers who need to save up for a down payment and build up their credit score during a time when Baby Boomers are refusing to part with their big houses.
The situation isn’t a whole lot better for renters, with rents barely coming down from record highs and half of tenants in that market saying they can’t even afford their payments.
The uneasiness over America’s affordability crisis is captured clearly in surveys and polls, but data that outlines the sentiment specifically among young people is limited.
I did the math and it would take me roughly 90 years to pay off a 2 bedroom fixer-upper.
Surprise twist, said fixer-upper is the place I rent currently.
Double surprise twist, I pay more in rent then the mortgage for this place, but don't qualify to buy my own.
I'm stuck in the renters purgatory.
There are more twists still, but those are too personal.
I'm not sure where you live and how it works, but around here, mortgages can be significantly cheaper than rent. By several hundred dollars. Admittedly, this is not a desirable place to live, but you're talking $1000/mo mortgage vs. $1300-1500/mo rent of a house the same size.
Where?
Explain how the rent is more than a mortgage if it would take you 90 years to pay it off
I'd still have to pay rent while saving for a down payment. That's an easy $2500-$3400 a month with other cost of living expenses, retirement/savings, all while trying to save up to $120,000. Small homes start around $1M here.
If you don't make 6-figures here, the city will drain your bank and spit you out.
I live in a 1,200 sqft 2-bedroom house and it cost me $60k at the height of the market. It's not even a fixer-upper.
You just think you're entitled to live in places you can't afford.
That's awesome. Mine is a 1,400 sqft 2-bedroom valued at $1.2M. My landlord hasn't raised rent in 7 years so I'm paying under market. (Don't tell them)
Our city has a real big problem over here with homelessness. Downsizing isn't the solution it used to be when single/studios are roughly equal or more expensive than 70yo homes.
Have you considered moving somewhere where demand is lower and supply is higher?
These would result in cheaper prices, but you'll have to get over your entitlement.
People can’t move for a variety of reasons. Job. Family. Plus it costs a shit ton to move sometimes, especially if you’re moving far away. Seems like you’re the one being entitled. ‘Just move!’ has big ‘if they don’t like the country, they should just leave!’ energy.
Also, often there’s a lot of availability and cheap houses in certain places because the local economy is shit and so there aren’t any jobs.
The sheer "entitlement" of
The "just move" crowd is so weird to me.
They're not weird they're spoiled as fuck
Why should you get access to things you can't afford while other people do not?
The whole point is that "just move" is certainly not a silver bullet, it should not be a thing at all, and it can be literally impossible for some people. What we need is rules against people being extortet out of their money via rent. Because that is what "not being able to afford" a place that you could afford previously is.
Well, good luck waiting for that to happen.
Well with that attitude nothing is ever gonna get better
It doesn't matter what attitude we have unless there is a massive cultural shift.
And you think sitting back and letting everything just happen is going to cause that cultural shift?
No, why would you think that?
My point from the very beginning has been to take matters into your own hands. Don't sit around and wait for other people to solve your problems for you.
Why should landlords and corporations?
You're just assuming that the only viable solutions are easy ones.
Then how do people live there? You clearly don't know what you're talking about.
Um, most don’t? That’s why housing is plentiful and cheap? Because most people there can’t afford it? Or have left for places that actually have jobs?
Seems you’re assuming that moving is the easy solution. And again, no, that’s not always true. Why is that so hard for you to accept?
No, you just assume that the only viable solutions are easy ones.
Keep waiting around for other people to solve your problems for you.
That's just about everywhere nowadays buddy.
I've been looking and looking to leave, but I don't have the proper education to get a WFH job so I have to live where the jobs are, and places as cheap as yours aren't where the jobs are...
Yeah... there are no jobs in my city of 80,000 people.
Lol.
So where is it? I'm not just here to argue, a city with 60k houses at peak hot markets with jobs that a (previously mentioned uneducated) person could actually find a job in? I'm sold. Where am I looking?