Prices are soaring and the option to buy is receding for millions of tenants nailed by rising rents
The price of rented accommodation in the United States is up 26% since the early 2020s. The number of tenants with unaffordable rents and utilities — those paying 30% or more of their income — is at an all-time high. Half of the nation’s tenants are in this situation because rents have risen more than incomes for decades and the pandemic further complicated the situation, according to an annual report from Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, which also points out that buying a home is increasingly expensive, preventing millions from climbing onto the property ladder.
Home prices are 47% higher than they were four years ago. Median prices are five times the median household income. In the 1990s, they were just three times higher. Add to this the cost of mortgages with interest rates exceeding 7% and the fact that home insurance that has been rising steadily.
The conclusion drawn by the Harvard think tank is that solving this crisis — in addition to other housing crises regarding the record number of homeless, those in inadequate housing or subject to the threat of climate change — requires the private and non-profit sectors to join forces with the public authorities at all levels of government.
I am ever thankful for the semi-charmed kind of life I seem to have.
Back in 2019, I was 3 years into saving for a house and planned to start shopping in 2022. An unfortunate life event caused me to have to accelerate those plans from “in 3 years” to “in 3 months”.
Had to settle for a smaller house than I was originally looking for and dip deeper into my savings than anticipated, but I was able to find something nice and close on it by the end of 2019 along with a good mortgage deal.
I didn’t realize how fortunate that unfortunate life event was until 2020 was in full swing. By the time 2022 rolled around (when I was originally going to buy a house), I would have been in less of a position to buy than I was in 2019, despite 3 extra years of savings.
It’s the only one relevant to this post, but that’s not the only unfortunate life event that turned out to be a huge blessing in disguise.
Yeah, I got super lucky that I bought my first place in 2011 when the prices in my area had been decimated and juuust really starting to recover. If I’d bought today it’d be a struggle to get anything close to what I have.
I remember someone on here telling everyone they were stupid and whiney because they weren’t just buying cheap houses and fixing them up like he did.
Turned out he did the same as me - found some really outrageous deals because he bought just after the housing market collapsed in 2008. And couldn’t understand that…this was not an option in 2023/24
If I had listened to my parents in 2009, when they told me I was too young and couldn’t afford a house, I’d be absolutely screwed today.
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