Property developers are salivating as a home ownership wave is coming as the “thirty something” members of Generation X demand the American Dream.
These children of the baby boomers, born in the 1980s and 1990s, form a generation even larger than that of their parents. And they are quickly entering their peak marriage and family formation years.
The settling down of the largest generation to date will create unprecedented demand for starter homes and rentals. Meanwhile, new supply has all but disappeared in the wake of the bust. New home construction hit its lowest levels on record last year, breaking the record lows of the year before and the year before.
It may seem absurd to talk about it, given the foreclosure backlog that still plagues the market, but in a few short years we may actually have a housing shortage, at least in the cities attracting these new families.”
The State of Metropolitan America report portrays the demographic and social trends shaping the nation’s large metropolitan areas and discusses what they imply for public policies to secure prosperity. Alan Berube presents an overview of that report.
