I’m new to this sub. Why is there a housing shortage when the birth rate has been declining considerably? The national news just said we need 5 million more homes to satisfy the current need. I’m genuinely curious. Thanks!
In: Economics
Declining birthrate does not mean shrinking population unless the birth rate declines too low and the population size is not sustained some other way (immigration, somehow lower the death rate / increase life expectancy, etc.)
Beyond that, a lot of this is demographics. Right now you’ve got large numbers of baby boomers who had kids and have become empty-nesters. They own homes that were large enough for them to raise their families in, but now that the kids have moved out (and need their own housing) you’ve got lots of large homes not being used to their full capacity. In a lot of the country, fiscal/tax policy encourages this.
Another problem is that demand for housing is artificially high and the supply is artificially low. What I mean by that is you’ve got people and corporations buying houses who don’t intend to actually live in them. More and more homes are being repurposed as vacation rentals, vacation homes, etc. So they aren’t being used as someone’s permanent residence.
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