Looks Like The American Dream Is Dying

Don’t call it a cooldown. Housing remains prohibitively expensive. [View in browser]( Proprietary Data Insights Top Residential Construction Stock Searches This Month Rank Name Searches #1 Lennar 5,039 #2 D.R. Horton 3,780 #3 KB Home 2,787 #4 Pulte Group 1,635 #5 NVR 900 #ad [Investors: Disruptive Tech To Dominate]( Bidding Wars As The Juice gets set to deliver more bad news on housing affordability for potential homeowners, consider the scary scene playing out in expensive rental markets. For example, in Manhattan: - In May, an estimated 18.5% of rentals ended up in a bidding war. - Landlords received an average of 11.1% more than they originally asked. That’s up from 10.7% in April. It’s worse in Brooklyn: - 23.8% of listings triggered bidding wars. - Landlords received an 11.7% premium on those units. But it’s not just happening in notoriously expensive New York. For instance, in the Austin, Texas suburbs, 10% over asking is common, 35% is frequent and, in extreme cases, landlords are getting 50% more than the listed rent. Madre mia! Pretty incredible to think that, in 38 of the nation’s 50 largest metropolitan areas, it’s actually less expensive to rent than buy. Starter homes in these cities cost $416 more per month to own than they did at this time last year, thanks to rising mortgage interest rates. Scroll with us for some evidence that supports this data. [Brought to you by Streetlight equity]( [Investors: Disruptive Tech To Dominate]( This company's new technology has been called a "money machine" for its ability to churn out ultra-pure products for a niche agricultural market -- at one-third the cost! It's hard to overstate just how significant this breakthrough could be -- especially for a $61 billion industry. See what investors are doing to make the most of this opportunity. Learn More Housing Looks Like The American Dream Is Dying Key Takeaways: - While the pace of growth might be slowing, housing affordability isn’t getting much better. - In fact, it might be getting worse, pricing even more would-be homebuyers out of the market. - If you’re of modest means and just starting to save to buy a house, it could take you a long time to get there. Don’t confuse talk of a cooldown in the housing market with more affordability. While the pace of the ongoing increase in prices might have slowed in June, we’re still setting records. Source: [National Association of Realtors]( Yes, the annual increase in the median sale price of a home slowed to a still paltry 13.4% last month. But we managed to set another record with the median hitting $416,000 in June. This, combined with high interest rates and relatively low and/or stagnant income for large swaths of the population, indicates things might actually get worse - from an affordability standpoint - before they get better. Consider data from a [report]( S&P Global Ratings just put out: That graph shows how many years it took in the past, takes right now, and will take in the future to save a 10% or 20% down payment to buy a home. While things were much worse around the housing crash of 2008, they’re pretty bad right now. Plus, in 2008, we didn’t have the luxury of as many social media-induced dopamine rushes to make us feel better. - By Q4/2022, a first-time homebuyer earning the median income will need 11.3 and 22.6 years, respectively, to save 10% and 20% down payments for a home. But Why!? The report blames a confluence of factors, including: - Shrinking housing supply - Projections of increased unemployment - Increased likelihood of a recession (To that end, we learned this morning that the nation's GDP shrank for the second straight quarter, indicating we're well on our way, if not technically in a recession). - Declining savings rates - Housing prices increasing faster compared to incomes Beyond The Down Payment As if saving for a down payment wasn’t daunting enough, middle-income earners were already priced out of the market in Q1 of this year. By Q4/2025, S&P Global projects that 60% - yes, sixty percent - of households will not be able to afford to pay the mortgage on a typical home. Renting Is No Relief In the old days (not all that long ago), you heard people saying we’re renting as we save to buy a home. However, with record rent prices, this core element of the American dream might be dying - or dead on arrival - as well. If you manage to put 10% down ($41,600) on a median priced home ($416,000) with a 30-year mortgage and a 5.5% interest rate, you’re looking at a monthly payment of $2,126. That’s not much higher than the current median for rent in the US. It depends on whose data you believe, but median rent estimates for June range from $1,876 to $2,045. In most major metro areas, it’s safe to put this number comfortably north of $2,000. To keep your housing payment capped at 30% of income, you need to make $80,000 a year. Median income in the US right now is closer to $50,000. Enough said. The Bottom Line: As The Juice recently noted, on housing [you’re either set or screwed](. Millions of US households (51% to be exact) currently carry a mortgage with a rate under 4%. This makes a big difference in terms of budget affordability. While your options to buy a home today dwindle commensurate with how much cash you have saved and how much you earn, relatively affordable options do exist. For example, look to up-and-coming neighborhoods. Last month, The Juice used Buffalo, New York, where housing prices vary wildly by neighborhood on the city’s West Side. Within just a few blocks - literally - your mortgage payment can change by well over $1,000 a month. Check out [that report]( and get creative in your own city or where you think you might want to live in pursuit of the last bastions of housing affordability. Because it appears they’re going away fast. News & Insights Freshly Squeezed - [Experts React To 0.75% Fed Rate Hike: ‘Don’t Think They Will Pause’]( - [Copper is More Valuable Than You Think (Ad)]( - [Is Under Armour A Buy Under $10]( - [Real House Prices And Price-To-Rent Ratio In May]( [We want to hear from you! Let us know your thoughts by clicking here]( # [submit to reddit]( [submit to reddit]( [submit to reddit]( [submit to reddit]( To ensure delivery of all emails, [allow us on your list](. Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here](. 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