{"id":183948,"date":"2025-07-23T11:19:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T17:19:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/?p=183948"},"modified":"2025-07-23T11:19:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-23T17:19:34","slug":"despite-a-construction-boom-the-us-housing-shortage-got-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biggerpockets.com\/blog\/despite-a-construction-boom-the-us-housing-shortage-got-worse","title":{"rendered":"We Had a Construction Boom, But the Housing Shortage Got Worse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The U.S. housing shortage is nowhere near ending, according to recent data.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite<\/span> stories<\/span><\/a> about an oversupply of homes in the Sunbelt,<\/span> Zillow<\/span><\/a> reports that the U.S. was short 4.7 million homes in 2023, despite one of the country’s largest construction booms.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That year, the housing deficit rose by 159,000 homes from the previous year, exacerbating the affordable housing crisis. <\/span>This<\/span> was due to the creation of 1.8 million new families each year, despite the addition of 1.4 million new homes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millennial, Gen Z Buyers Most Affected<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The lack of housing has led to millennials and Gen Z sharing homes with nonrelatives. The issue is not just availability but affordability. Even with a greater supply of homes, unless interest rates drop and incomes increase, new homebuyers can\u2019t get onto the property ladder.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

House Prices Have Outstripped Incomes<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to <\/span>The Wall Street Journal<\/span><\/a><\/em>, in 2024, the median price for a single-family home was $412,500, as house prices outpaced growth in household income. <\/span>Rising insurance costs<\/span><\/a> have only added to the expense of homeownership.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, the income required to afford an average 30-year mortgage has increased by 60% since 2021, according to the <\/span>Journal<\/span><\/em>, adding that the<\/span> diminishing construction workforce in the wake of <\/span>the<\/span> immigration clampdowns could also slow construction.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The need for homes and the increasing cost <\/span>to buy<\/span> them <\/span>sees<\/span> many U.S. cities caught in a Catch-22, with the<\/span> YIMBY<\/span><\/a> movement urging the need for more housing and the<\/span> NIMBY<\/span><\/a> people opposed to<\/span> denser housing concentrations in traditionally single-family neighborhoods.<\/span> The result has been a chronic increase in housing prices. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Priciest Cities Have The Least Inventory<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Unsurprisingly, the most expensive U.S. markets are the most inventory-starved, <\/span>according to Zillow<\/span><\/a>. Here are the five metros with the most significant housing deficits in 2023:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n