Richmond housing costs are up as Harris, Trump campaign on the issue
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Cost of living is top of mind for voters, making housing a key issue in the presidential election.
Why it matters: A shortage of affordable homes to buy or rent in the U.S. keeps home prices high — and high housing costs mean less money to spend on other things, Axios' Emily Peck reports.
By the numbers: The median sale price of a single-family home in metro Richmond thus far this year is $424,950, according to data from the Richmond Association of Realtors.
- That's a big jump from $273,000 at the end of 2019 and $300,000 for 2020.
- Fewer listings (and more buyers competing for them) have helped push up prices.
- There have been 9,930 new single-family home listings for metro Richmond so far this year and 7,701 closed sales, way down from the more than 14,000 listings and 10,000 closed sales in 2019 and 2020.
The big picture: The issue is now on both presidential candidates' agenda — a reflection of how urgent the long-simmering shortage has become.
- Vice President Kamala Harris frames the housing shortage mostly as a problem of supply. Her solution, broadly, is to build more homes.
- Former President Trump frames this mostly as a demand problem driven by immigrants (though most economists disagree).
Harris acknowledged the housing shortage in her September debate. "We know that we have a shortage of homes and housing, and the cost of housing is too expensive for far too many people."
- Her housing plan includes tax breaks and incentives for home builders to build affordable homes to buy and rent. She says it would boost U.S. supply by about 3 million more homes; in line with a Moody's estimate of the shortfall.
- She also wants to give first-time buyers a $25,000 tax credit, which would increase homebuying demand.
Trump doesn't have a detailed plan, but he's talking about the shortage.
- He talked about slashing mortgage rates and easing regulations to let builders build. Neither are things he would be able to control from the White House.
- He also wants to curb demand for housing by limiting undocumented immigrants' ability to buy or rent homes and end the practice of providing shelter for migrants.