Dive Brief:
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Nine in 10 Americans and Canadians say their countries need a solution to the current lack of affordable housing, with three-quarters saying the issue hasn’t received enough attention, according to a recent survey of 1,000 people in the U.S. and Canada by PSB on behalf of Habitat for Humanity.
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Of those surveyed, 84% in the U.S. said high housing costs are the biggest hurdle to homeownership, and most expect the situation won't improve anytime soon. What's more, 65% of U.S. respondents said they’ve struggled to pay housing costs at some point.
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Of U.S. respondents, 69% said the government is not doing enough to improve affordable housing availability. In Canada, 82% said the same about their own government.
Dive Insight:
High — and rising — housing costs will continue to be a barrier to those looking to own their homes in the U.S. The nation's median home price lifted 6.8% in May to $288,000, according to Redfin, while the supply of for-sale homes clocked its lowest level (2.7 months) since the listings website began tracking the measure in 2010.
Housing affordability woes are being felt by middle-income workers acutely. A separate Redfin study last month pointed to an increasing gap between median household incomes and home-price growth in the country’s 30-largest metros, which have grown 1.6% and 26%, respectively, since 2012.
In some markets, buying a home is near-impossible for this group. Homeowners in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego spend more of their earnings on monthly mortgage payments than do owners elsewhere in the country at 46.8%, 40.2% and 39.6%, respectively, according to Zillow. The share is much lower in the Midwest, where buyers in Cleveland, for example, pay just 12.7%.
The push for more affordable housing is ramping up as policymakers look to fill the gaps in their local markets. California state senators passed a number of bills earlier this month, including a $3 billion affordable housing bond, to help streamline the approvals process for such projects. Meanwhile legislators in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New Jersey's Supreme Court, as just a few examples, have recently taken similar steps to bolster their markets' lagging affordable housing inventory.