More Americans are getting priced out of homeownership
Faced with soaring home prices and rental costs, middle-class Americans are getting squeezed out of the market, facing pervasive unaffordability “once reserved for low-income families,” a new report suggests.
Of the regions surveyed, almost one-third saw the salary needed to buy a home double between 2019 and 2024, according to the National Housing Conference report “Priced Out: When a Good Job Isn’t Enough,” released Tuesday. The Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit based its report on 390 metropolitan statistical areas — including Asheville, North Carolina; Boise City, Idaho; Houston; Tampa, Florida; and Seattle — across the United States and assumed that homeownership costs should not exceed 28% of a buyer’s gross income.
Homebuyers in nearly half of the locales analyzed needed six-figure incomes to buy a “typically priced home” with a 10% down payment, the nonprofit found, noting that the breadth of occupations “able to achieve homeownership” also narrowed between 2019 and 2024.
“Overall, in five short years, homeownership became unattainable for thousands of combinations of MSAs and occupations — from insurance sales agents in Akron, Ohio, to electrical power line installers and repairers in Worcester, Massachusetts,” the report stated.
Today, housing affordability “is no longer a problem we can frame as affecting only certain groups or regions. From big cities to small towns, Americans who work hard, earn solid incomes, and contribute to their communities are finding that neither renting nor buying is within reach,” David Dworkin, president and CEO of the National Housing Conference, said of affordability challenges. “If we don’t address the supply shortage, reform zoning, and invest in housing at all income levels, we are facing a fundamental threat to the health and sustainability of our economy.”
Private residential construction spending bucks downward trend
Although residential construction spending slipped overall in June compared to a year earlier, private residential construction spending rose 0.1% over the same period, according to U.S. Census data.
Compared to a 2.1% decrease measured in June 2024, this year’s improvement largely stemmed from “more spending on single-family construction and home improvements,” stated an analysis from the National Association of Home Builders' “Eye on Housing” blog. Remodeling spending also ticked up 0.1% in June, but it remained nearly 8% lower than the June 2024 figure.
America’s local parks get more visitors, longer visits
After the COVID-19 pandemic altered attitudes toward outdoor space and living, local parks across the United States are seeing more foot traffic, and visitors are spending longer periods in them.
According to data Placer.ai released Tuesday, modestly sized parks in cities, towns, and suburbs have seen visits rise steadily since 2019, peaking during the spring and summer. The data company has, however, seen visits trend down in the late summer, a subtle shift that “may be tied to extreme summer heat waves in recent years,” the report stated.
When it comes to time spent in these parks, the report found that the number of visits lasting less than 30 minutes has dropped since 2019, while the share of those exceeding half an hour grew, “pointing to more intentional, extended outings that may include picnics, sports, or social gatherings. " At the same time, the share of weekday visits shrank, while weekend and evening ones increased.
The report also found a demographic shift in park users: While visitors often come from higher-income areas, the report found more families with children using the spaces and a “modest but significant decline" in the median [household incomes of the neighborhoods around these parks, indicating a broadening of the audience making use of these spaces.