Issue Brief: Southwest Florida Housing Affordability
August 25, 2023 / RERI Research Team
During the past few years, in a period of low interest rates and increasing demand for homes, the U.S housing market has seen record high prices that are increasing at a faster rate than wages. Now that the U.S has entered a restrictive monetary policy period, high prices together with high interest rates have significantly decreased housing affordability. According to the National Association of Realtors, housing affordability ended 2022 with double digit declines from a year ago in all four regions of the country (Hyman, 2022). Moreover, there is a housing shortage which has reached crisis proportions at the same time as millennials are reaching the age when they are beginning to consider buying a home, which is likely to keep prices high (Trapasso, 2022).