There is no question, the U.S. has doubled its housing shortage in the last decade alone. The recent record-breaking increase in housing production and financial resources has yet to make a difference in housing prices. This has even been true in smaller, more moderately-priced markets. As noted by a recent article by Housing Forward, “It’s just not enough.”
And unfortunately, this housing shortage will likely continue to worsen. A recent report by Up For Growth called Housing Underproduction in the U.S. noted: “If we preserve a more of the same approach to policymaking, the nation’s housing shortage will continue to worsen. At the local level, exclusionary and discriminatory land-use and zoning policies artificially restrict housing production. A host of policies and practices—too much single-detached zoning, minimum lot size requirements, unpredictable and lengthy permit processes—restrict the availability and affordability of homes in high-opportunity neighborhoods, places that are rich in jobs, transportation, infrastructure, and community assets. While this affects everyone, it is particularly burdensome for working families, people with low incomes, and people of color. In fact, racial and ethnic discrimination has been embedded in housing policy for over a century. To create access to opportunity and a housing system that serves everyone, policymakers must prioritize racial, ethnic, and economic equity outcomes and actively reverse the nation’s history of exclusionary policies. The good news is that we can choose to adopt a new approach to building homes that addresses not only availability and affordability, but also has positive impacts on equity and inclusion, economic vibrancy, and climate change. We can convert Housing Underproduction into housing opportunity.”
In keeping with the rest of the country, inventory is at historically low levels in the region. According to CAAR’s 2022 1st Quarter Market Report, supply continued to fall in the first quarter, but the year-over-year inventory declines have moderated, suggesting that inventory might be bottoming out in the region. Across the CAAR footprint, there were 472 active listings in the region at the end of the first quarter. While inventory is down by just 16 listings, or 3%, compared to the end of the first quarter of 2021, the number of homes on the market is just about a third of what it was in the first quarter of 2020, before the onset of the pandemic.
Here's a snapshot from their report on Nelson County for the 1st quarter of 2022.
