Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris unveiled a plan that promises to combat the housing affordability crisis, and boost supply and demand. Harris’s plan is appealing, but will take a careful balancing act to pull it off. U.S. home-sale prices have risen nearly 40% since President Biden took office, mortgage rates are just now coming down
This article was co-authored with Floyd Marinescu and was originally published in the Toronto Star on June 22, 2024. Canada faces a housing crisis, with median home prices in Canadian metros reaching $788,000, and soaring to $1.17 million in Toronto. This has made the dream of owning a home unattainable for most, while many renters
Listings will rise and prices and rates will fall. But high housing costs will remain a problem for young families, which will increase demand for large rentals and force President Biden to make affordability a cornerstone of his reelection bid. We’re starting to see signs of a shift toward a buyer’s market as pandemic-driven inflation
Originally published to Forbes on September 18, 2023. A recent study from PolicyGenius found that quoted homeowner’s insurance premiums increased by 21% nationally from May 2022 to May 2023. Florida experienced the largest jump with premiums increasing by 35%. The steep increases in homeowner’s insurance costs contribute to the already intractable housing affordability crisis, as homeowners
Originally published to Forbes on September 12, 2023. For many young Americans, the dream of owning a home feels less like a middle-class milestone and more like a prize available only to those with family money or extraordinary incomes. The monthly mortgage payment on a median-priced home has increased 15% in the last year, while incomes
Originally published to Forbes on August 21, 2023. An eye-popping 38% of recent homebuyers under age 30 used either a cash gift from a family member or an inheritance in order to afford their down payment. This is according to a Redfin commissioned survey of recent movers conducted in Spring 2023. First-time homeownership has become increasingly