America’s homebuyers are staying put.
As home prices and the cost of essentials climb across the country, households are struggling to keep up — and increasingly looking to their local governments for help. That’s according to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies 2026 State of the Nation’s Housing report. The findings, released June 17, detailed trends and challenges in the US housing market in recent years.
From a wave of vacant residences to a shortage of affordable housing, here are Business Insider’s biggest takeaways.
Americans are paying more for housing while demand weakens
Homeowners in particular are experiencing rising non-mortgage costs from line items like taxes and insurance. Between 2019 and 2025, average national property taxes rose 31%, and average monthly insurance premiums increased 72%. With many first-time homebuyers already straining to come up with a down payment, the data indicates that the long-term cost of owning a home is growing, too.
Meanwhile, homeowners are locked in place, with the share of households that relocated at a record low of 11.2% in 2024. Mortgage rates have also remained stubbornly high, as steep inflation keeps interest rates elevated.
Renters are also facing steep costs. In 2024, about half of renter households were cost-burdened, meaning they spent at least 30% of their income on housing. Twenty-six percent of those renters were severly cost burdened, meaning they spent more than half their income on housing. The pandemic-era construction boom helped bridge some of the US’ supply gaps, but with increasingly steep rents, people cannot afford to move. Lower-income households are disproportionately affected, as 83% of renters who earn less than $30,000 are cost-burdened.
The broader economic picture is also driving down housing demand: The last couple years have been defined by a low-hire, low-fire job market and stubborn inflation, while a key marker of consumer sentiment hit historic lows earlier this year. With stretched wallets, people are making fewer major financial decisions, like buying a new home.
In 2025, net international migration also halved, and the report noted that the Census Bureau estimates it could fall another 75% this year. The decrease in immigration to the US will slow population growth, an impact that will be “substantial and increasingly evident over time,” according to the report.
Housing is available, but not affordable
Construction for new units is slowing as vacancies start to open up, but Americans are still struggling to find affordable housing.
High construction costs make most new builds too expensive for many households, particularly those with low and moderate incomes. It leaves many homes sitting vacant — the national unsold inventory reached 127,000 in January 2026, the highest level since 2009.
Rental units have felt this rebound in particular. From 2021 to 2025, apartment vacancy rates in Austin increased 5%, and the number of active for-sale listings was more than three times as high. Yet, this oversupply did contribute tor a 7% annual decrease in rents, as landowners try to fill empty spaces by lowering prices.
Yet, this trend does not apply to all cities in the US. During the same period, Chicago apartment vacancy increased 0.5%, and for-sale listings fell by over 20%.
As the burdens of homeownership become heavier, access to affordable housing disproportionately impacts Black, Hispanic, and multiracial renters, widening racial homeownership gaps, according to the report.
The pressure to produce affordable housing will fall on local governments
As the market pushes for less construction due to low demand and rising costs, the responsibility for producing low-cost units will fall to local and state governments. The report said that the burden was exacerbated by federal spending cuts under the Trump administration.
Loosening restrictions on zoning and land-use laws, along with creating state Low-Income Housing Tax Credit programs, are some of the strategies local governments are using to encourage affordable development.
A few cities are trying creative housing solutions. Business Insider has reported on Minneapolis’ 2040 plan, which eliminated single-family exclusive zoning, helped increase affordable housing supply in the city. New York is now taking on housing reform too, with Mamdani’s new housing plan focused on building 200,000 new homes. Reporters have also heard from single mothers living together to make ends meet, small business owners barely breaking even to cover rent, and artists who have to pay both housing and studio rent in New York.
In the long run, federal support is still crucial to support the necessary funds “essential for generating the deeply affordable units in shortest supply.” The need for federal aid goes beyond affordability. As climate-related disasters occur more often, racking up 23 billion-dollar events last year, federal funding will be necessary to help households recover, the report said.
As the Harvard researchers put it, the “US faces interlocking housing crises — affordability, homelessness, climate change, and discrimination — that demand coordinated action across federal, state, local, private, and nonprofit actors.”
