Posted on 11/16/2025 2:01:14 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
We need a Marshall Plan for housing, a collection of broad initiatives to make homes more affordable and put the American dream back on track
Homeownership has long been part of the American dream, but that dream has been deferred.
Households in their 30s have an ownership rate of just 42% — more than 20 points lower than the national average.
The median age of all home buyers is a record-breaking 59, and the age of a first-time buyer is 40 — up from 29 in 1981.
As a solution, the Trump administration is floating a 50-year mortgage.
Though I disagree with that specific idea, I am heartened that they are brainstorming ways to tackle the problem.
We need a Marshall Plan for housing, a collection of broad initiatives to make homes more affordable and put the dream back on track.
The federal government can use its bully pulpit to get changes to red tape and regulations that are holding back building, and encourage policies that would increase housing and decrease costs.
To start, the White House and Fannie Mae should instead promote shorter, 20-year mortgages.
As Ed Pinto of the American Enterprise Institute has argued, a 20-year loan can be paid off "when the 30-year-term loan leaves most homeowners saddled with another decade or more of mortgage payments, the cash flow freed up from a paid-off shorter-term loan is available to fund a child’s post-secondary-education needs and later turbocharge one’s own retirement."
The 20-year loan could be incentivized with a first-time buyer tax credit.
The decline in homeownership is a problem that must be addressed federally and locally.
This would be especially important today when the vast majority of taxpayers no longer itemize their tax returns — which means they cannot avail themselves of the deduction for mortgage interest.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
No.
We need to reign in the deficit spenders, but the current deficit isn’t a hole: It’s a cliff.
There is no solution but to start over at this point.
The crash is coming. The questions are ‘how & when?”
Exactly! I’ve developed and built thousands of apartments, condos, duplex’s and houses. We could reduce the cost of housing by 30% overnight by just getting government OUT of the process. Particularly LOCAL governments!
“2200+ square feet”
To build a house much larger isn’t that much more expensive.
Many costs go up by the square root and not linearly.
To double the size of a house:
1. ~40% more studs
2. ~40% more wall OSB & siding
3. ~40% longer interior electric wire & horizontal plumbing runs
4. ~40% more cabinets
5. 100% more roof & floor plywood, flooring, shingles & roofing membrane
6. ~100% more for trusses & joists
7. ~60% drywall & paint
The onsite labor costs goes up by about 40%.
The offsite labor costs goes up by very little.
I agree. Send the Marshals out to round up all those illegal aliens putting pressure on the housing market.
“High immigration (both legal and illegal) creating housing demand.”
In too many locales housing prices were inflated B4 Biden’s mass immigration policies.
Young people’s expectations are also fed by the McMansions builders want to build.
Look at how home prices went up after 2020. It is the result of the federal reserve policy. Why do home owners get a write off and renters don’t? There are many things that need to change but mostly is get the government out of housing.
Housing cost is just a symptom of our current “ disease”. Any attempts to fix are futile.
-The “American Dream” now costs over $5 million over a lifetime
-The cost of raising a single child now averages around $300,000
-The average annual grocery bill for a family is approximately $15,000
-The median home price is $420,000, a 50% surge since 2020
-Homeowners insurance costs have soared 40% since 2020
-Rent has spiked 32% to $2,075 per month since 2020
-Out-of-pocket health insurance for a family costs nearly $7,000/year
-New car prices average $50,080, up 21% since 2020
-Auto insurance has jumped 55% since 2020
-Four years at a public college costs $120,000; private college, $244,000—up 158% since 2000
Are those rice chex shingles?
Property taxes are killers.
Property taxes are killers.
“All that said: “home ownership” implies one owns the home, mortgage and debt free. The fact is, until it is paid off - the bank owns it.”
Absolutely false.
maybe everything should be free ....
During the Biden administration one homebuilder said that no matter how much they worked there was no way to keep up with all the new people coming in.
“A government housing plan.”
It was already done.
Biden/Obama gave out all the money to illegal aliens in the form of “forgiveable” housing “loans” which was MORE FREE MONEY TO NON-CITIZENS in addition to healthcare and paying for all their kids to be born.
They gave out grants for home repairs too-roofing, siding, etc.
“https://investor.drhorton.com › news-and-events › press-releases › 2025 › 07-22-2025-110041577
“D.R. Horton, Inc., America’s Builder, Reports Fiscal 2025 Third Quarter ...
pre-tax profit margin of 14.7%”
Hmmm, they do look like some kind of chex. That’s a lot of chex boxes chexed. Never enough though.
It’s been many years since I’ve even looked at what’s in the cereal aisles.
Well, it was the closest match (on a rather brief image search) to the look of the place where a lot of Kris Kringle’s work gets done. Nothing fancy.
Well, if by “affordable” they mean more debt slavery for the majority and more billions for the usurers, I say, burn, baby, burn.
We don’t need 50 year loans. We need a ban on usury, honest money, and the death of globalization.
Home mortgages should be no more than +0.5% above the rate on savings.
What is usury?
I don’t anyone who, given a choice, would want a 50 yr. mortgage. That’s crazy.
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