The housing affordability disaster is almost inescapable within the US. Housing prices have skyrocketed in communities nationwide — from small cities to coastal supercities.
Rents throughout the nation have risen by 26% since early 2020, in keeping with a brand new report from the Harvard Joint Middle for Housing Research on the state of US housing. Whereas lease progress has slowed lately as a surge in new multifamily buildings got here on-line, three in 5 housing markets are nonetheless seeing rising lease costs.
Half of all tenant households have been cost-burdened as of 2022, that means they spent greater than 30% of their revenue on lease, the Harvard report discovered. That was the very best share for the reason that US Census first began gathering this knowledge, the report famous. The quantity who’re severely cost-burdened — that means they spend greater than 50% of their revenue on lease — additionally hit a document excessive in 2022.
“Rents have been rising quicker than incomes for many years,” Alexander Hermann, a senior analysis affiliate at Harvard’s Joint Middle for Housing, stated in an announcement. “Nonetheless, the pandemic-era lease surge produced an unprecedented affordability disaster that continues.”
Decrease-income and folks of coloration are among the many most weak renters, in keeping with the examine. And sure communities throughout the nation — from Naples, Florida, to Corvallis, Oregon — are dealing with among the highest charges of cost-burdened tenants.
In Florida, there are 5 metro areas the place greater than 60% of renters are cost-burdened. Naples-Marco Island and Port St. Lucie, Florida, lead the nation in cost-burdened renters, with about 64% of tenants in each locations spending greater than 30% of their revenue on housing.
Two Pennsylvania metro areas have been within the prime 10 for the very best proportion of cost-burdened renters: State School and East Stroudsburg, at 63% and 61%, respectively.
Some metro areas within the US have housing markets the place greater than 40% of tenants are severely cost-burdened and spending over half their revenue on housing. In accordance with the Harvard report, 45% of renters in Stillwater, Oklahoma, are severely cost-burdened, the very best proportion within the nation.
Corvallis, Oregon; Port St. Lucie, Florida; and State School, Pennsylvania, are the three metro areas which can be within the prime 10 for each cost-burdened and severely cost-burdened renters.
Renters are additionally more and more locked out of shopping for a house. Residence costs and mortgage rates of interest have surged lately, placing homeownership out of attain for much more renters. The US dwelling value index is 47% larger than it was in early 2020, and the median dwelling value is about 5 occasions the median family revenue, Harvard’s report famous.
And plenty of owners are additionally struggling with the rising value of insurance coverage premiums, dwelling repairs, and property taxes. The variety of cost-burdened owners — those that spent greater than 30% of their revenue on housing and utilities — rose by about three million folks between 2019 and 2022, the report discovered.
Are you combating the price of lease? We wish to hear from you. Please contact these reporters at jtowfighi@businessinsider.com and erelman@businessinsider.com
