"We’re in the middle of the greatest housing bubble in history, and prices are about to go even higher before a crash occurs to push them back down. Ordinary Americans are facing huge challenges to afford their mortgage or rent payments, and that is causing a lot of financial stress for millions of families out there. Hundreds of thousands of hard-working Americans may lose their homes in the coming months as they become unable to keep up with soaring costs and rising interest rates.
Over the past 10 years, home prices rose by almost 70 percent, and we can say for sure that incomes did not increase accordingly. The cost of living in the United States continues to escalate to stratospheric levels, but on the other hand, working conditions continue to deteriorate and most middle-class jobs do not offer enough financial support for workers to purchase a home. In fact, even middle-class renters are also cost-burdened by surging prices, and affordability is set to get much worse this year as the inventory of vacant homes and apartments plunges to the lowest level in decades while demand stays elevated.
More and more families are getting completely priced out of the market. Meanwhile, wealthy investors have been buying entire neighborhoods and engaging in bidding wars, oftentimes offering millions above the original asking price – something most families can not do. That is helping the housing bubble to grow even larger as prices are propped up by financial speculators. On top of that, supply chain issues have been contributing to the spike in construction costs. Shortages of raw materials and shipping disruptions have pushed the price of key building materials such as plywood and lumber to record triple-digit increases over the past 12 months.
We all grew up thinking someday we would have our own homes where we would comfortably live with our families. But that dream has been removed from our reach. Tonight, many parents are going to have to sleep in their cars with their children because they’ve been evicted from their homes. A job loss or one unexpected health expense can push you into a debt spiral that can make you lose everything you own. And in the current economic environment, where living expenses continue to hit one new high after the other while our buying power continues to collapse, afford surging housing costs has become a privilege.
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