One of the key messages voters sent on Election Day 2024 is they are fed up with high prices — and at the top of that list is the cost of owning a home.
For Americans, housing is their single biggest expense, and today, it is less affordable than at any time in the last 40 years. the beginning of 2020, the median cost of a home was around $280,000, today that number has risen above $400,000, a jump of 43%. That’s one of the reasons that some are arguing today that costs of running credit scores somehow plays a determinative role in driving prices up. But that’s a red herring—a way to distract policymakers from what’s really at fault.
According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, there are three primary factors driving up home prices: 1) a lack of supply; 2) higher interest rates; and rising insurance premiums due to the increased risk of weather amid a changing climate.
