The U.S. housing market is short 4.5 million homes, according to recent Zillow estimates, which is worsening the affordability crisis for renters and homeowners alike. Indeed, half of renters are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on monthly rent.
“We are in a big hole, and it is going to take more than the status quo to dig ourselves out of it,” Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow, said in a statement. But builders aren’t doing much to bridge that gap and are pumping the brakes on new apartment construction.
