Federal Land Reform: Underused Housing Affordability Tool?

Vanessa Brown CalderThroughout the pandemic, people have poured into states in the south and intermountain west, including states like Idaho, Arizona, and Utah. According to Census Bureau estimates, areas including Boise, Idaho and Salt Lake City, Utah sustained some of thehighest net migration increases during the 2020 –2021 period.Figure 1. U.S. regional migration, 2020 –2021, numbers in thousandsSource note: Net internal migration encompasses migration to/ ​from U.S. states. Net migration includes migration from abroad. California has some of the highest outbound migration of any state; this depresses net migration estimates for the West.Table A ‑2: Annual Inmigration, Outmigration, Net Migration, and Movers from Abroad for Regions: 1981–2021Following increasing in ‐​migration, cities in these once‐​affordable states rapidly encountered housing affordability issues. For example, at the end of June 2022, Phoenix, Arizona and Salt Lake City, Utah had monthly mortgage payments that were up over70 percent, year ‐​over‐​year. Observed rents were up 15 percent year‐​over‐​year in the same areas (having fallen from their peak of 20–25 percent).Various factors —including changing consumer needs, supply chain issues, labor shortages, and the like—combined with rising demand to produce rising prices. In addition, policies including restrictive zoning became newly salient in western states with burgeoning population growth.However, there is ano...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs