Living
Americans Need to Be Richer Than Ever to Buy Their First Home
The pandemic boom has given way to higher mortgage rates and tight inventory, further squeezing entry-level house hunters.
This article is for subscribers only.
The US housing market has softened a bit after years of soaring prices and frantic bidding wars, but there’s little reprieve for buyers trying to crack into the market.
First-time buyers made up the smallest share of sales on record last year, at 26%, even as home values started to cool, according to the National Association of Realtors. And rising borrowing costs and still-high prices have pushed housing to the most unaffordable levels in records going back almost four decades.