The U.S. is short approximately 4 million homes. Wharton professor Ben Keys traces the beginning of the housing crisis to the 2008 financial meltdown — and says climate change is making things worse. Also, Justin Chang reviews the Iranian film The Seed of the Sacred Film. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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This is FRESH AIR.
I'm Tonya Mosley.
As we head into 2025, housing is still one of the most important issues on the minds of millions of Americans.
The dream of owning or even renting a place is in peril.
People are paying $1 million for starter homes.
New construction is moving at a snail's pace.
And the latest data shows that in 2023, home sales were the slowest in three decades.
Many homeowners aren't selling or upgrading because the market for getting into another house is just too high.
Renters aren't catching a break, either.
On average, they're spending 30% of their income on housing.
And that stat includes people who live in places that had the reputation of being more affordable, like the Midwest and the South.
Changes to our climate are also redrawing real estate maps, impacting where people can live and what they can afford.
President Elect Donald Trump says some of his plans to tackle the crisis include regulations on construction, opening up federal land for housing and mass deportation.
How feasible are these ideas?
And why is this such a dire moment in the housing crisis?
Well, our guest today to talk about all of this is Ben Keyes.
He's the Rowan Family foundation professor of real estate and finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.
He's also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.