Everyone's Diagnosing the Housing Market Wrong.

[Michael Carbonare]

The median U.S. mortgage payment has nearly doubled since 2020.
$1,240 → $2,420 a month.
Incomes didn't double.  Payments did.

Everyone's diagnosing the housing market wrong.
Not enough inventory?  Blame builders.
Too many investors?  Blame Wall Street.
Rates too high?  Blame the Fed.
None of that is the disease. It's all symptoms.

The disease is affordability. In 2019, a household earning $50K could afford 28% of home listings. Today, that number is 9%.
When the payment outstrips the paycheck, nothing else matters:
Buyers can't buy
Sellers can't sell at the price they want
Builders can't build at a price anyone can pay
Investors show up because homeowners can't move their own homes

Fix affordability and all of that unwinds on its own.
Ignore it and you can drop rates to 3%, flood the market with new construction, and ban every institutional buyer in America, but the market still won't clear. You'll just change who's priced out.

Everyone wants a villain.  Affordability isn't a villain.  It's the scoreboard.

[Jay Hinrichs]

Quote from @Jules Aton:

I believe a significant factor is how unrealistic Americans are about what constitutes an acceptable standard of living. There are affordable properties but no one is interested in a starter home. 

agreed I know you work in  or have worked in Balt city.. I just sold a fully rehabbed house in an OK neighborhood not great but not the hood for 165k.. I think the other issue is automobiles RVs boats buying so much stuff on credit.. I think many in the US just dont prioritize housing over a new car or an RV or a new jet ski or boat or what have you..