3 Numbers Help Explain Housing Affordability in America Today

June is Homeownership Awareness Month—a time to focus on the evolving landscape of housing in the United States.

Did you know 60% of Americans are concerned about the current state of the housing market?

What's more, 36 million Americans have used risky alternative home financing at some point—and half of renters are "cost-burdened," meaning that they spend more than 30% of their income on housing.

So, what's the solution?

Throughout the month, we'll be sharing what's behind the housing affordability crunch, how we got here, and proven solutions.

Let's start with facts: 3 stats to help explain the issue—and potential solutions.

1. 70% of Americans think young adults today have a harder time than their parents' generation when it comes to buying a home.

Several troubling trends are making it difficult for many to enter the market, especially first-time buyers. These include:

Rising home prices.

Restrictive zoning.

Limited access to small mortgages.

Fortunately, policy changes and innovative solutions can help make homeownership more accessible.

Pew's housing experts Alex Horowitz and Tara Roche have identified three solutions:

?? Zoning reform, which leads to the creation of more homes—and lowers housing costs.

??? Better access to small mortgages, which help people buy low-cost homes—and are safer than the risky alternatives many Americans are using today.

?

??? Policy changes—such as eliminating minimum parking requirements—can go a long way to improve housing affordability.

?

For more on the current housing landscape—and policy solutions that work (and examples from Montana and Minneapolis)—tune in to Pew's podcast season, "Housing in America."

QUOTE OF NOTE

"Housing is everything. And the harder it is for people to achieve their ownership goals, the more it impacts other areas of their lives, such as access to jobs and schools."

—Tara Roche, The Pew Charitable Trusts

2. 36 million Americans have used risky alternative home financing.

For houses under $150,000, financing is extremely limited in the U.S. This lack of small mortgages can push potential homebuyers toward risky alternative financing that often lacks the protections of a mortgage.

?

What can break down these barriers?

?

One solution: To improve credit access, modernizing federal lending regulations could help reduce the costs of offering small mortgages while maintaining protections for borrowers and making homeownership more attainable for financially underserved communities.

3. Rents rose by 30% from January 2017 to January 2023.

?

"With rents reaching an all-time high, that makes it hard to save for a down payment because such a large portion of a family's paycheck is going to cover housing costs," Pew's Alex Horowitz says.

?

Thankfully, cities in Texas, Montana, Minnesota, and elsewhere are implementing creative policy solutions to keep rents stable, increase housing options, and reduce homelessness.

Stay tuned for more stories behind the data and how the current housing market is affecting people across the country.

?