Axios Wonders Why Housing's Scarce, Ignores Sky-High Mortgage Rates
According to Axios, housing units are up 9.5% while population grew a mere 6.7% from 2014-2024, yet affordability is in the gutter. They acknowledge 'high mortgage rates' as a factor, leading to fewer homes hitting the market. What they don't explicitly connect is the federal reserve's aggressive interest rate hikes that began in early 2022. While these policies are framed as inflation-fighting,
they’ve actively squeezed purchasing power, making borrowing for a home a rich man's game. So, while Axios tut-tuts about a hypothetical democratic electoral problem caused by people fleeing blue states for cheaper housing, perhaps a more immediate consequence is staring them in the face: a generation locked out of homeownership, all while major financial institutions report record profits thanks
to those same 'high rates' the article vaguely references. Your financial 'woes' are someone else's quarterly gains.