Home Prices: From American Dream to American Nightmare

Biden-administration policies are putting home ownership increasingly out of reach for Americans.

Home ownership was supposed to be the American dream, the thing to which the entire middle class could not only aspire but also achieve. That dream has turned into a nightmare, thanks in large part to the Biden administration and the big spenders in Congress. Now home ownership is increasingly out of reach for Americans.

The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta began maintaining a Home Ownership Affordability Monitor Index in 2006 because homes were so unaffordable at that time. The latest reading from that index, which has plunged 36 percent since President Joe Biden took office, is the lowest in its history and indicates record unaffordability. It now takes 44 percent of median income — before taxes — to afford a median-price home.

It’s even worse in several major metropolitan areas across the country. The cost of a median-price home is 50 percent of median income in Boston, 55 percent in Miami, 63 percent in New York, 84 percent in San Fransisco, and 85 percent in Los Angeles. But these are percentages of before-tax income, which means the cost of home ownership in some of those places exceeds 100 percent of net income. “No joke,” as Biden would say.

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