As house and rental home prices increase, many people have struggled to find an affordable place to live. An NPR article reports that increasing housing prices have proved especially difficult for millennials and young families.

“Cities with the highest increases in rent prices include Phoenix, Miami, and Tampa, which have all seen an increase on average of over 25 percent in the past year,” said Fox Business reporter Jiovanni Lieggi.

In some cases, it actually costs more money to rent a house than it costs to pay a mortgage, according to Fox Business. CNBC reported that lower-priced rental homes are up 12% compared to 3% in January 2021, lower-middle priced rentals are up 13.3% compared to 3.2% in January 2021, higher-middle income rental homes are up 13.4% in contrast to 3.6% in January 2021 and higher-priced rentals are up 12.2% when compared to 4.5% from January 2021.

 Increasing house and rental prices have also caused a mass migration from areas that are typically more expensive to live, like California, to places that are traditionally more affordable. However, some people are concerned that this migration might cause prices in traditionally more affordable areas to soar. 

Analysts have come to the conclusion that a lack of houses, a problem thought to be partially caused by restrictive zoning laws, are a major factor in increasing house prices. High rent is also expected to be driving inflation, according to the Washington Post.

“While the Federal Reserve’s likely interest rate increases are expected to slow soaring housing costs — already mortgage rates have been trending higher, which tends to cool the real estate market — the restraint on rental prices is expected to be much less direct and take longer to filter through,” said Washington Post reporter Abha Bhattarai.

In response to these recent events, the Washington Post reported that President Biden is using money from its $46.5 billion Emergency Rental Assistance program to help those in need across the nation. President Biden has also promised to build almost 100,000 affordable homes in the next three years to help battle the challenge of increasing house prices.