America’s housing shortage grew to an all-time high of 4.7 million units, according to a new Zillow analysis of recently released census data. This deepening housing deficit remains the prime driver of the nation’s housing affordability crisis.
Construction boomed in response to high demand and price growth during the early years of the pandemic. But that hasn’t been enough to keep up with the growing population, let alone undo nearly two decades of underbuilding that kicked off during the Great Recession.
“The unfortunate fact is that we still don’t have enough housing in this country for people who need it. Construction has helped prevent the housing deficit from ballooning, but it hasn’t yet begun to close the gap,” said Orphe Divounguy, senior economist at Zillow. “We know what works: lower building restraints to allow for more density and less expensive housing. More of these measures at the local level can help get more homes built and begin to e
