{"id":26,"date":"2026-09-23T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.room-vu.com\/jerrymarbury-com\/2026\/09\/23\/u-s-housing-affordability-hits-a-breaking-point\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T14:00:00","slug":"u-s-housing-affordability-hits-a-breaking-point","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jerrymarbury.com\/blog\/2026\/09\/23\/u-s-housing-affordability-hits-a-breaking-point\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Housing Affordability Hits a Breaking Point"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"video-zmyer\">\n<div class=\"video-frame-zmyer\">\n        <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\"\n                src=\"https:\/\/www.roomvu.com\/agent\/embed\/jerry-andre-a-marbury\/harvard-housing-affordability-remotion-videos-2322\"\n                frameborder=\"0\"\n                allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\"\n                allowfullscreen><br \/>\n        <\/iframe>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"video-description-zmyer\">\n<p>Housing affordability in the U.S. is facing its toughest stretch yet, and as someone who\u2019s spent decades navigating the realities of both homeownership and investment, I see the impact firsthand. Early 2026 brought a slow market: existing home sales stayed muted, new-home sales kept their footing, and more renters chose to stay put. Yet for many hopeful buyers, the real hurdle is cost\u2014median prices for both new and existing homes now sit above $400,000, with mortgage rates holding above 6%. That combination has kept monthly ownership costs at historic highs.<\/p>\n<p>To put it in perspective: since 2020, existing-home prices have climbed to nearly five times the median income. By late Q4 2025, a typical mortgage payment on a median-priced home hovered around $3,100, which calls for an income north of $120,000. Affordable rentals are vanishing too\u2014units renting for under $1,000 dropped by 7 million. Now, 11 million of the lowest-income renters are all vying for just 3.8 million affordable units nationwide.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s work underway at every level\u2014state, local, and federal\u2014aimed at supporting new housing production, trimming red tape, and expanding financing tools. But as someone who has managed large housing portfolios and worked with affordable housing programs, I know there\u2019s still a long road ahead to real access and affordability. Understanding these trends is essential for anyone looking to make the right move, whether you\u2019re buying, investing, or finding your next home.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Housing affordability in the U.S. is facing its toughest stretch yet, and as someone who\u2019s spent decades navigating the realities of both homeownership and investment, I see the impact firsthand. Early 2026 brought a slow market: existing home sales stayed muted, new-home sales kept their footing, and more renters chose to stay put. Yet for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":184,"featured_media":57,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrymarbury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrymarbury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrymarbury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrymarbury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/184"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrymarbury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrymarbury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrymarbury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrymarbury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrymarbury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jerrymarbury.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}