Private Housing Squeeze

Report Outline
Difficulties of Home Buying in America
Government Aid to Private Housing
Barriers to Mass-Housing Technology
Special Focus

Difficulties of Home Buying in America

Every american not sunk in poverty has assumed for a quarter-century or more that he could buy a house, if he so chose, as often as he moved. And that is often, because the Census Bureau reports that one American family in five changes its place of residence every year. For some time now, however, those who still clung to the notion of easy access to home ownership have been in for a rude awakening.

“The single-family home is moving into the category of a luxury item,” a New Jersey builder said recently. “In the market where our company is building today—and it's typical in this regard—a family must have close to a $14,000 income to be able to buy a home.”

Housing agencies have reported that on-site houses selling for less than $15,000 made up only 8 per cent of new single-family housing market in 1968, while five years earlier they accounted for 29 per cent. Seventy per cent of new houses sold during 1968 were priced above $20,000, and the median price for older houses rose—for the first time—above $20,000.