Americans are living through the toughest housing market in a generation and, for some young people, the quintessential dream of owning a home is slipping away.
Mortgage rates surged in recent years, hitting the highest levels in more than two decades last fall. While rates have come down slightly since then, home prices remain painfully elevated and a limited inventory of housing is still failing to keep up with demand. Such conditions mean that housing has become woefully unaffordable.
Falling mortgage rates in recent weeks have helped, but home prices could remain sticky, according to economists. It’s still a cruddy time to be hunting for a home, but it’s even worse for young, first-time buyers who need to save up for a down payment and build up their credit score during a time when Baby Boomers are refusing to part with their big houses.
The situation isn’t a whole lot better for renters, with rents barely coming down from record highs and half of tenants in that market saying they can’t even afford their payments.
The uneasiness over America’s affordability crisis is captured clearly in surveys and polls, but data that outlines the sentiment specifically among young people is limited.
I don’t want to convert it but can’t you build apartments on it our something?
You’ll need to talk to your city zoning reps. It’s possible, sometimes, but it depends on the location.
You’re also going to need a massive starting investment to build apartments, fair warning. You could try and sell the land to a development company but that seems counterproductive to what you’re trying to accomplish.
I also find it incredibly frustrating that mortgages can’t be taken out to have a home built… There’s land for sale where I am that can be residential, but I don’t have the money to build and the only people that do are the developers that build McMansions when we need starter homes…
That would be converting it to residential then.