America needs more starter homes

The solution to the millennial housing crunch is actually really simple

Houses.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

America has a housing problem. Inevitably, we millennials get the blame.

After years of delaying or skipping milestones — marriage, children, homeownership — for financial and cultural reasons alike, millennials (who are presently aged 25-40, i.e. not college kids) are finally ready and (maybe) able to buy houses. The trouble is twofold: There are only so many houses to buy, and four in five of the houses available aren't the right sort of house for most first-time buyers. Home construction has lagged demand for more than a decade; new house inventory is too big and too expensive; and real estate investors, who can often outbid ordinary buyers with cash offers above asking price, are snagging starter homes at record rates.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.