The Housing Shortage Is Hurting Almost Every Part of the Economy [Video]

Name a problem with the U.S. economy, and chances are it’s connected in some way to the country’s failure to build enough homes.

In the first two decades of the 21st century, the U.S. built 5.5 million fewer homes than were needed, the National Association of Realtors estimated in a 2021 report. To further exacerbate the issue, high interest mortgages are making homeowners reluctant to sell their homes and lose the low interest rates they got at the height of the pandemic.

The effects of that housing shortage are rippling through the economy, most obviously in the form of soaring home prices that have made it nearly impossible for anyone but high-income earners to get into the housing market.

Beyond that, the housing shortage has caused problems with inflation, economic growth, job creation, and wealth inequality, for starters.

“If accessibility to affordable shelter becomes problematic, that’s obviously bad for the U.S.,” said Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American, a title insurance company. “We …

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