Rent price increases have outpaced wage growth in U.S. cities for several decades now. But what makes the recent years different from the earlier ones is that the affordability crisis is creeping up to affect middle-income households as well.
The findings comes from Wharton real estate economist Todd Sinai’s analysis in a new policy brief.
He contends that the affordability crisis isn’t just affecting renters. “Many cities are exhibiting decreasing housing affordability, period,” Sinai writes. “It doesn’t matter whether the houses are owned or rented; in those cities, households of all stripes pay increasing shares of their incomes for housing.”
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