The picture is bleak—housing is severely unaffordable. Your typical American household makes almost $30,000 less than it needs to afford a median-priced home, according to Redfin.
But how did we get here? Well, it sort of began with the pandemic. People were working from home and mortgage rates were historically low, so it fueled a housing boom. Home prices and rents went up substantially. But halfway through 2022 that began to change, and the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in an attempt to lower high inflation, so mortgage rates went up.
