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Will a Housing Affordability Crisis Haunt the 2024 Election?
Rents, mortgages, and tempers are going nowhere but up.
Scant good news for cash-strapped would-be homebuyers and beleaguered renters: “US house price inflation slows in March, FHFA says,” revealed Reuters this morning. “U.S. house price growth slowed sharply in March, likely as rising mortgage rates weighed on demand, data showed on Tuesday.”
“Prices edged up 0.1% in March after surging by an unrevised 1.2% in February, the Federal Housing Finance Agency said in its monthly report on home prices,” continued Reuters. “On a year-over-year basis, prices increased 6.7% in March after advancing 7.1% in February.”
“Existing home sales, which account for the bulk of U.S. house sales, fell in March as the average rate on the popular 30-year fixed-rate mortgage drifted up towards 7%,” added the outlet. “But with housing inventory still well below pre-pandemic levels, house prices could remain elevated for a while. Prices increased 6.6% between the first quarter of this year and the first three months of 2023. They were up 1.1% compared to the fourth quarter.”
While scant good news is still good news, most of the news on housing costs in 2024 remains terrible.
“How hard is it to buy a home right now?” Jasmine Cui wrote for NBC News last week. “The…