Housing shortage is at least 10 million homes, White House says

The US has a shortage of at least 10 million single-family homes, according to a new report from White House economists — a higher figure than some previous estimates from the government and the private sector.  

"If homebuilding and the growth of the single-family housing stock had continued at their historical pace instead of falling dramatically after 2008, there would be 10 million or more additional single-family homes today," according to the Council of Economic Advisers' latest annual Economic Report of the President. 

The government-controlled Freddie Mac in November 2024 said the US was 3.7 million housing units short of what was needed based on demand from a growing population. The National Association of Realtors in June 2021 estimated the shortage to be 5.5 million units, based on tracking trends over the previous 20 years compared with construction rates from 1968-2000. 

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The report comes as policymakers across Washington seek to show voters they are doing something about the high cost of housing, a key issue heading into a midterm election expected to center on affordability concerns. 

The Senate last month passed a sweeping bill aimed at lowering housing costs on an 89-10 vote. Its fate is uncertain in the House, where lawmakers want to make changes including a controversial measure requiring investors to sell build-to-rent housing within seven years. 

President Donald Trump signed two executive orders in March in an effort to show action on the issue. One of them is aimed at easing access to mortgage credit and directs the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to tailor mortgage rules to make it easier for smaller banks to "facilitate more affordable lending," according to a White House fact sheet. The second is designed to ease environmental rules to speed up development and infrastructure projects. 

The Trump administration had previously floated a number of proposals to cut housing costs – including establishing a 50-year mortgage and allowing borrowers to tap their 401(k) pension funds for down payments without penalty – only to see some of them shot down by Congress, the financial industry and even Trump himself.   

The White House also directed Freddie and sister company Fannie Mae to purchase $200 billion in mortgage bonds in a bid to bring down rates on mortgage loans. The announcement briefly spurred a modest fall in rates, but the Iran war caused them to jump them back up. The interest rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage is currently 6.37%, according to Freddie – more than double the rates seen just five years ago.