How to Bring Starter Homes Back From Extinction

If you want to understand why the American starter home seems to have gone extinct, don’t look at greedy developers, rapacious investors or discriminating banks. Look at the government policies that make building these homes all but impossible. New research puts hard numbers on one part of the problem — and they’re staggering.

To be sure, some of the concern over the struggles of first-time homebuyers is mistaken. Despite claims that their average age has skyrocketed since 2020, more reliable sources show that first-timers are roughly the same age as they were decades ago. Some of the trend away from smaller homes, moreover, simply reflects Americans’ preferences for larger homes and their greater ability to afford them, as well as shifting demographics and marriage patterns.