Half of U.S. homeowners and renters (49.9%) continue to struggle to afford their housing payments, according to a new survey by Redfin (NASDAQ: RDFN).
The nationwide survey polled approximately 3,000 homeowners and renters in February, with most of the data being culled from the nearly 1,500 respondents who indicated they sometimes, regularly or greatly struggle to afford regular rent or mortgage payments.
Among the respondents, the most common sacrifice (34.5%) was taking no or fewer vacations, while 22% skipped meals, 20.7% worked extra hours at their job and 20.6% sold their belongings. More than one of every six people (17.9%) who struggle to afford housing borrowed money from friends and/or family, while 17.6% dipped into their retirement savings and 15.6% delayed or skipped medical treatments.
“Housing has become so financially burdensome in America that some families can no longer afford other essentials, including food and medical care, and have been forced to make major sacrifices, work overtime and ask others for money so they can cover their monthly costs,” said Redfin Economics Research Lead Chen Zhao. “Fortunately, the country’s leaders are starting to pay attention, and homebuyers may get a reprieve in June if the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates, which would bring down the cost of getting a mortgage.”
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As long as we allow hedge funds and Wall Street to commoditize this one final market, squelching supply to keep prices high, how will this market ever right itself? The only “housing problem” we have is that our government allows hoarding!
I had to laugh. A third of the folks who purported to be “struggling” had to give up a vacation of two ? I guess these folks wouldn’t be able to deal with a REAL crisis…..