The affordability crisis in the housing market is persisting—and Americans are feeling it in their neighborhoods, according to a National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) survey.
Of more than 2,200 Americans surveyed, 73 percent believe affordable housing is lacking nationwide. Sixty-eight percent believe it is an issue in their state, and 54 percent believe it is a challenge in their community. Fifty-eight percent say that if they were going to buy a home in the future, their city or county would have limited options in their price range.
Markedly, 55 percent of those surveyed believe their city or county should decrease development fees, and 53 percent believe it would “be effective” to increase government subsidies. According to the NAHB, 25-30 percent of construction costs are regulatory-related.
“These poll results confirm what builders from across the nation have been warning about—that housing affordability is an increasingly serious problem in communities across America,” says Randy Noel, chairman of the NAHB. “A mix of regulatory barriers, ill-considered public policy and challenging market conditions is driving up costs and making it increasingly difficult for builders to produce homes that are affordable to low- and moderate-income families.
“Housing is vital to the economic health of our nation,” Noel says. “This poll should serve as a wake-up call to policymakers at all levels of government to ease regulatory burdens that needlessly drive up the cost of housing and to enact policies that will encourage the production of badly-needed affordable housing units.”
Source: National Association of Home Builders (NAHB)
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