The elephant in the room

When are we going to address the elephant in the room and actually do something about it?

The housing market is slowly walking into a territory nobody has seen before. While an entire generation seemingly has to sit silently and watch, as it does.

We professionals have watched it too. Front row, V.I.P. ticket, as the American dream has been quickly slipping farther and farther out of reach for the middle class since 2020.  

It’s no secret that home prices have risen 46% nationally since 2020, all while the cost to finance them skyrocketed too, with mortgage rates piercing the 7% line in 2023-2024. With the average home buyer in 2019 paying $9,061 in mortgage interest annually, the mature figure is expected to be $24,345 annually as of July 2025.

All while the cost of everything has gone up, and not by a little.

Financing a used car – ($539/mo) up 35.8%
Insuring your car – ($233/mo) up 155.4%
Powering your home – ($178/mo) up 52.1%
Care for one young child – ($1,365/mo) up 53.3%

Filling a grocery cart, getting new tires, or caring for your pet? Yes. It all got more expensive since 2020. For everyone.

So let me ask you, who is it hurting the most? Who is feeling the brunt of this economy the hardest?

Short answer: Those who did not own some form of inflationary asset before 2020.

Long answer: The generation that was learning what being a young adult was like when COVID struck may be a group to focus on. 

A generation that watched their parents at a young age navigate the dark markets of 2007 to 2009. A generation that came to be teens when politics just started to turn on its head. Leaving positivity & vision behind to pursue hating our neighbors instead. A generation just becoming aware of what life is really like, just when they are told to stay in their home for 2 weeks following a multi year national lockdown. All while the cost of doing anything that you and I would have done as 20-25-year-olds is astronomically more expensive. All while wages haven’t kept up.

The median household income for a potential first-time buyer in our country is $68,000. According to NAR, the starter home today is valued at $368,000 Meaning the median purchaser of a starter home is making $108,520 to qualify for it and survive the mortgage payments.

$108k! This number was below $50,000 just 10 years ago.

What happened? Did wages grow to keep pace with inflation? No. 

Wages have increased by 21% since 2015, compared to a cumulative inflation rate of 36.7% (according to the BLS) and 57% higher home values. And do you know where wages have moved the least?

Understandably, in the entry-level job market. 10.2% of 24-27 year olds with a degree are unemployed. Do you know the percentage of young people who DO have a job and are still considered “underemployed”? (Meaning they make significantly less than their degree warrants) That number is 49.4%.

In 2025, 1 of 8 young Americans (12.2%)  is married and owns a home. In 1999, that number was over 50%

What happens when the next generation mathematically runs out of options? When the cost of pursuing the American dream continues to blow past the level of “hard work” and “picking themselves up by the boot straps” that they can offer, what can they do?

Everyone has to start somewhere. And nobody gets off easy. The next generation doesn’t deserve handouts. But they do deserve to see the same light at the end of the tunnel that we saw. The same opportunity we got.

Today, the opportunity is for the investor, the corporation, and (no offense) the boomer.

In 2025, 27% of homes sold to individuals with plans to profit from them (through rentals, Airbnb, etc.), the highest number on record, compared to the 23% of first-time buyer purchases.

Institutional investors watch neighbors struggle, while they purchase the neighborhood to feed on the cash flow. Boomers use the equity they’ve accumulated and retirement accounts that have grown over decades to outbid any feasible offer a first-time buyer could muster. Yet no news breaks about a new housing initiative.

No executive order, or congressional hearing, or bill in consideration that could unlock, not just the housing market in general, but the market for the struggling, tired, and fed-up young family that simply wants the same American dream they heard about growing up.

So no, it’s not the avocado toast. It’s not just about lowering mortgage rates either. It’s about a system that cares more about its shareholders than those who have a share in this country.

It’s about CASH flow for yet another multi-millionaire who couldn’t care less about the systemic commodification of shelter. And it’s about history, because if history in our country can tell us anything, it’s that the wealthy and powerful will make sure they stay just that – wealthy and powerful. We need to sift that wealth to the next generation somehow.

How could we do it? Can we tax the wealthy?

What if we created an investor ladder? Something of a tax bracket system. If you purchase property with plans to profit (say that 5 times fast). You should pay a fee. (Similar to how a VA buyer has to pay a fee) That fee could go up like a ladder, determined by how many units are registered under them or their connected LLCs (I know, it can get slimy in the LLC world when you’re trying to track ownership).But think about it. 

1-10 homes owned? 2% of the purchase price, paid one-time at closing, per unit.

100+ homes owned? 7% fee at closing, and for each new unit purchased.

Yes. That is steep. That’s the point.

If you’re going to take yet another neighborhood off the map for first-time buyers, at least you can help fund the next generation’s chance at just getting one.

No monthly cost, no increase in taxes, we’re not messing with the all-powerful cash flow. It’s a clean fee that could funnel directly to a state-run first-time home buyer fund to cover down payment assistance and rate buydowns for non-homeowners. If an area has a higher-than-average investor purchase rate, it will have a higher FTHB fund to combat. Think of it like a “Take-a-home & Make-a-home” program.

Regardless of this idea, or many others that I plan to publish in collaboration with Housingwire at a future date, we need to communicate. We need new ideas for innovation in home building, proper taxation, property zoning, cost of living, etc.

We need to give first-time home buyers a shot.

The land of opportunity is seeing less opportunity for the next generation by the day, and I wonder. When are we going to do something to help the next generation of red-blooded Americans? Gen Z?“

Zachary Foust is a Realtor and team lead based in southern Delaware with nearly a decade of experience in residential real estate.
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of HousingWire’s editorial department and its owners. To contact the editor responsible for this piece: [email protected].

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