U.S. housing: Unaffordable to buy, but wealth-building to own

Enrique Martínez García () and Efthymios Pavlidis

Dallas Fed Economics from Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas

Abstract: A home is not only a place to live. It is a long-lived asset whose value reflects the housing service it provides over time and the return buyers require, given interest rates and risk. The ongoing combination of high house price-to-rent ratios and strained affordability suggests housing remains a macroeconomic vulnerability, though financial conditions appear more resilient than before the housing bust and subsequent Global Financial Crisis of 2008.

Keywords: housing affordability; price-to-rent ratio; valuations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-05-19
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