New ULI Report Details Affordable Homeownership Obstacles

Apr 18, 2019

The Urban Land Institute's (ULI) Terwilliger Center for Housing has teamed with the real estate analytics firm RCLCO on a new report that traces the roots of the ongoing shortage of affordable homeownership opportunities for moderate-income homebuyers, including first-time buyers, and proposes solutions to increase the supply.

The report, “Attainable Housing: Challenges, Perceptions and Solutions,” noted the mismatch between what buyers are looking for and what builders are constructing—nearly 50 percent of delivered homes are four bedrooms or more, while less than 10 percent offer one and two bedrooms. Builders are also burdened with higher construction costs, increased regulations and a lack of available skilled workers, the report noted.

"It is an important as ever for the industry to build all types of housing, and especially to find ways to build nonsubsidized housing for middle-class buyers," says the report. "Ultimately, this type of housing–attainable housing–will relieve the current downward pressure on the market that has kept renters from becoming homeowners and has made housing increasingly unaffordable for Americans at lower income levels."

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Phil Hall

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Apr 18, 2019

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