“Meanwhile, the US-Israel war on Iran has driven up the cost of buying homes, with average rates for 30-year mortgages jumping from just under 6 percent to 6.37 percent”

“Put together by staff at the White House Council of Economic Advisers, it finds there would be 10 million more houses in the country if 'homebuilding and the growth of the single-family housing stock had continued at their historical pace instead of falling dramatically' after the 2008 global financial crisis”

“That crisis was caused largely by a wave of defaults in the housing market, where prices had been fuelled by problematic lending practices”

“The analysis notes that home prices have risen 82 percent since 2000, while incomes are up just 12 percent”

“But when rates jumped with inflation in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, monthly mortgage costs also rose for buyers”

“The report states regulations on home construction, which it calls 'the bureaucrat tax', add more than $100,000 in costs to building”