03/15

If you’ve been feeling a little claustrophobic about your living situation – i.e., not being able to own a home because of housing affordability, then you’re not alone.

HousingWire released a report that shows housing affordability for prospective homeowners has been steadily declining since 2012.

In 2012, 77.5% of new and existing home sales were affordable for a typical family – currently, only 56.6% match the same criteria. One of the main factors is historically low volumes of inventory. Since 2016, almost two-thirds of home builders have reported low or very low lot supplies in their markets.

The National Association of Home Builders is reporting a need for 1.1 and 1.2 million new single-family homes to keep up with population growth. But there is hope – January saw a rise of 1.3% in construction spending from December 2018.

While searching for homes can easily become frustrating when most are out of your price range, there are possible ways to improve the housing affordability crisis. HousingWire suggested allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to participate in a more active role in facilitating financing.

We’ll have to keep an eye on the housing market throughout 2019 to see if construction keeps growing.