Why Houses Are So Expensive In The U.S.

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Published 2021-05-25
With Covid encouraging city dwellers to move to the suburbs and families looking for home offices and bigger yards, prices for the American dream home have skyrocketed.

Home prices surged in March, up 13.2% from the year prior, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller National Home Price Index.

“Everybody expected housing to really sort of dry up with the rest of the economy,” said National Association of Home Builders CEO Jerry Howard. “And in fact, the opposite has happened. People who have been sort of scared out of the cities by the pandemic.”

With homeowners unwilling to sell, a record low supply of homes for sale has forced buyers into intense bidding wars. At the end of April, there were only 1.16 million houses for sale in the U.S. down 20.5% from the year before.

Higher costs for land, labor and building materials including lumber have also impacted homebuilders.

With the 30-year fixed mortgage rate hovering near a 50-year low and strong demand pushing prices to all-time highs, why is the housing supply so meager? Watch the video to find out if the U.S. is running out of houses.

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All Comments (21)
  • @felixf4378
    Biggest mistake I ever made was moving out of my parents at 20 years old. I'm 24 years old now and wasted almost $60,000 on rent went I could have saved that and bought a home. I fell for the whole "you need to move out to be an adult" scam.
  • @aaronjones1131
    Literally thought COVID would crash the market and I’d finally be able to afford a home......jokes on me I guess
  • @Yotta_Guns
    They missed the part of the issue where companies and extremely wealthy individuals are holding a huge chunk of affordable housing hostage.
  • I once asked a retailer why are prices so high. He told me why not. If people are willing to pay these prices, why not.
  • @Rimeau
    Expensive, but built like a garden shed
  • For that price atleast give them a solid house made out of concrete or bricks, not some saw dust panels glued together.
  • @sew_gal7340
    Ironically the shortage of homes on the market is due to nobody wanting to sell their homes to buy new ones because the home prices are too expensive.
  • @dirtydan1652
    They’re expensive because it’s profitable, for companies to own real estate 🏡. They can throw an extra $50,000 on top of asking price. They can drive up rent, and home prices. Meanwhile, average Americans just want a place to rest from working 80+ hrs a week.
  • It’s like joining a game of Monopoly after everyone’s been playing for 30 years.
  • @keybraker
    The joke is that the houses are actually pretty poor quality-wise.
  • @andstewart9982
    How rich can you be to buy an apartment like that, one year savings won't get me that.
  • @izagdlife
    Inflation plays a major role why houses are so expensive, Most times it amazes me greatly how I moved from an average lifestyle to earning over $63k per month, Utter shock is the word. I have understood a lot in the past few years that there are lots of opportunities in the financial market. The only thing is to know where to invest…
  • @xv9021
    I like how corporate america getting into the housing game is completely glossed over. They are buying up every home on the market handing out cashier's checks
  • @dr.aviator
    They get you with the term “homeowner”. Miss a few payments and see how much of that home is actually yours.
  • As an American who's approaching 30, I'm at peace with the fact that I may never own a home. My job and career prospects were never good to begin with even if I got a college degree. There's a big difference between being poor with debt and poor with no debt. I wish anyone buying a house nowadays the best of luck. Some of these houses like many apartments are ridiculously overpriced.
  • @TheiiWiiShow_
    The fact we have accepted the 30 year loan as a standard for owning a home is scary. Just look at the median home prices in CA and median income. It is just not sustainable.
  • Is the US running out of houses, the answer is no. The issue is we have to many investors buying multiple houses which in turns makes individuals looking to buy a home harder.
  • @hujanair2
    30 years ago i could afford my parent's house in cash. In today's money, that amount couldnt even buy you a car.
  • @JULYXXIV
    We don’t have enough people, yet we have a “housing shortage”. Maybe we should think about NOT allowing companies - ESPECIALLY FOREIGN COMPANIES - to purchase homes to use as investment properties.
  • @samshurp4518
    When u have companies buying houses so that they can rent the houses to single families..... I cannot compete with a company 😱😱😱