America’s housing crisis needs real answers, not Biden’s scapegoating



The economic law of supply and demand dictates that if the supply of goods or services outpaces demand, prices fall. Most politicians understand this and commonly invoke that law in response to public discontent about high consumer costs.

When it comes to housing, however, leading Democrats are offering lip service to supply, while simultaneously engaging in counterproductive schemes to deflect responsibility for rising costs.

Instead of addressing the true sources of inflation and economic instability, the administration’s go-to response is to take cheap shots at the private sector.

Addressing the national housing shortage will require an estimated 1.7 million new homes each year, on average, until 2030. As its response to this crisis, the Biden-Harris administration has chosen a desperate, partisan approach by scapegoating private-sector technology through litigation.

The Department of Justice is suing rental industry software company RealPage Inc., alleging it played a role in raising rents for apartments and multifamily dwellings. Blaming a single data analytics company for the nationwide housing shortage and inflationary pressures may seem bizarre — and it is. We need real solutions.

What is RealPage? In addition to providing property management tools like IT support platforms and renter verification systems, RealPage offers assessments of rental asset metrics such as vacancy rates, leasing term trends, projected occupancy, and anticipated consumer demand.

Property managers need quick analysis to set prices appropriately within the market. Setting prices too low risks financial disaster by failing to capture fair market value in a market with razor-thin margins. Setting them too high, however, discourages consumers, leading to empty units and daily losses.

Without evidence from the Justice Department showing where rents have risen excessively, the claims of market power against RealPage appear dubious at best. Leasing companies with about 3 million units nationwide use RealPage’s market price assessment tools. If the government’s accusation held merit, it could point to plenty of examples to support the charge.

Unwarranted attacks on data analytics tools represent the latest effort by a Biden-Harris administration that frequently makes baseless claims of misconduct across industries struggling to survive under the challenging economic conditions this administration has created.

Last year, for example, the Justice Department sued to block JetBlue’s acquisition of Spirit Airlines. Biden-Harris central planners attempted to dictate travelers’ options while fostering an environment that stifles innovation and limits airlines’ ability to reduce fares.

In another troubling example, the Biden-Harris administration targeted the grocery sector. When Kroger sought to acquire Albertsons, the Federal Trade Commission quickly challenged the acquisition, citing unfounded competition concerns and potential price hikes. This stance ignores the steep price increases driven by administrative policies and unchecked government spending, which have cost taxpayers over $2 trillion.

Instead of addressing the true sources of inflation and economic instability, the administration’s go-to response is to take cheap shots at the private sector — companies that aim to innovate and create market efficiencies that benefit consumers.

Improving the housing market starts with lawmakers overhauling the nation’s notoriously burdensome construction codes and regulations. Rising material costs due to tariffs, lengthy permitting processes, construction workforce shortages, restrictive zoning laws, and environmental requirements all create cost pressures that discourage building the new housing America desperately needs.

Since returning to my native Arizona several years ago, I’ve seen firsthand the influx of people moving here, naturally driving up rents. Unfortunately, under our Democratic attorney general, state officials have joined the Biden-Harris administration in ignoring the real causes of rising market costs, previously filing their own lawsuit against RealPage. After 20 years of Republican leadership that made Arizona attractive to newcomers, Democratic leaders now regrettably pursue a misguided path that stifles innovation.

To address housing affordability, we must tackle supply shortages and inflationary pressures. Instead, the federal government under Biden and Harris has chosen to scapegoat a software company and mislead consumers about how the housing market works. Americans shouldn’t fall for such false narratives.

Government Is The Cause Of, Not Solution For, Skyrocketing Housing Costs

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It's highly unlikely that the solution to a problem caused in part by poor Federal Reserve policy can come via yet another policy intervention by Fed officials.

Washington Post Finally Learns What A Recession Is And Swears It ‘Could Be Good For You Financially’

The Washington Post's 'seven silver linings' to a recession are just deceptions that pretend struggling Americans are OK financially.

Zillow says housing prices have dropped for the first time in a decade



An analysis by real estate company Zillow found that housing prices in the United States had dropped for the first time in a decade after skyrocketing in recent years and driving many out of the market for home ownership.

The report from the online company found that their Zillow Home Value index had fallen by 0.1% from June to July.

"The market is quickly rebalancing. With buyers' purchasing power diminished by nearly two years of double-digit price growth and higher mortgage rates, competition for homes is dropping off," the report said.

The fall in pricing came after a report from the National Association of Realtors said that housing sales had cratered 20% from the previous year in July, and 6% from the previous month.

Despite the small decline in pricing, the value of the typical home in the U.S. was 16% above its pricing from last year, or $357,107.

Experts say the sudden rise in real estate loan rates has priced many buyers out of the market and led to less demand for housing.

"This slowdown is about discouraged buyers pulling back after the affordability shock from higher rates. As prices soften, many will renew their interest, and we will continue our progress back to 'normal,'" said Zillow chief economist Skylar Olsen.

Zillow has also projected that U.S. home prices will increase from 2022 to 2023, but only by 2.4%, far less than they had previously predicted.

A separate analysis by Redfin found that some markets that had experienced a boom during the pandemic had seen a spike in home sellers dropping their prices. Among the worst was Boise, Idaho, and Tampa, Florida.

The Federal Reserve has raised the national baseline rate in an attempt to jolt the economy from spiking inflation from government overspending during the coronavirus pandemic. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has indicated that they may continue to raise rates in order to prevent the economy from continuing to overheat.

"It is essential that we bring inflation down if we are to have a sustained period of strong labor market conditions that benefit all," said Powell in July.

Critics fear the move may shove the nation into a recession, especially since the gross domestic product has decreased in two consecutive quarters, the generally accepted definition of a recession.

Here's more about the changing housing market:

We're witnessing a housing recession: Economistwww.youtube.com

How Easy Federal Money Could Be Laying The Groundwork For Another Housing Crash

Because the federally blown asset bubbles have also hit home prices, Washington now will make housing more ‘affordable’ by having taxpayers take on more risk.

Big investment companies are buying houses at high prices and renting them out, squeezing would-be homeowners



Rising housing prices across the nation are putting first-time homebuyers in a bind.

While record-low interest rates make mortgage financing incredibly easy, few people can actually afford to take advantage of these loans because prices for houses are too high. Part of the problem has to do with soaring lumber costs, which is driving up the price of building. There's also a labor shortage for builders, which means many would-be buyers fighting with each other to find pre-owned homes, which is driving up those prices.

Those that can afford to buy a house are having trouble finding one for sale before someone else buys it. Another dimension of the problem is these first-time buyers aren't just competing amongst themselves, they're also facing competition from large investment companies who are buying up houses to turn them into single-family rentals, blocking many Americans from becoming homeowners.

A new report from the Wall Street Journal details "the rise of big investors as a potent new force in the U.S. housing market." The story covers the example of Fundrise LLC, an online property-investing platform that purchased 124 houses in Conroe, Texas, for $32 million, paying building firm D.R. Horton Inc. "roughly twice what it typically makes selling houses to the middle class" — illustrating how home builders stand to make more money by selling houses to investment firms instead of middle-class Americans who want to own their first home.

The report goes on to detail how "yield-chasing investors are snapping up single-family houses to rent out or flip," contributing to the scarcity of houses for sale and driving up prices for everyone.

According to one estimate from John Burns Real Estate Consulting, as many as 1 in 5 houses sold in the nation's top housing markets is purchased by someone who will never move in. As a result, the consulting firm expects prices to continue to rise, climbing 12% this year and at least 6% more in 2022.

"You now have permanent capital competing with a young couple trying to buy a house," said company CEO John Burns. "That's going to make U.S. housing permanently more expensive."

Burns notes there are more than 200 big money companies and investment firms competing with families and first-time buyers for houses, including titans of finance J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Blackrock Inc.

Important changes are happening in the housing market because of the involvement of big money investors. The record-level home prices driven by firms paying much more than regular people can afford for these homes, or maybe even more than the homes are worth, could lead to a market bubble.

The Journal's report compared the speculative bubble created by these investors to the housing bubble that began in 2004 and 2005 and ended with the 2008 financial crisis.

Also, many of the houses bought by these companies are not being sold to potential homeowners. Entire neighborhoods bought by Wall Street are being turned into rentals, leaving few options for those who want to own a home.

With prices rising and big companies outbidding the middle class for the few houses that are available, how are families ever going to afford to own a home?

INFLATION collusion? What's REALLY fueling the rising food & housing prices?



The prices of our houses and food are already rising fast, but they will skyrocket to record highs if we don't fix the problem soon. So what's causing the inflation?

On the radio program this week, Glenn Beck said he doesn't believe it's the fault of our loggers, farmers, or truckers — many of them are really struggling. But the big corporations that control these industries are making record profits, all while the Biden administration is making some very odd decisions that could make the crises even worse.

Watch the video below for more details:


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