According To A Recent Report, Nevada Was Labeled The Top State For Declining Mortgage Affordability
WASHINGTON DC – Today, U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) called on Federal Reserve (Fed) Chair Jerome Powell to reverse the Fed’s interest rate hikes that have raised housing costs by driving mortgage rates to 20-year highs. According to a recent report, Nevada was the number one state for declining mortgage affordability.
In a letter to Powell, Senator Rosen and her colleagues called on the Chair to lower rates to bring mortgage costs down. They noted that the Fed’s rate hikes also have driven up rental prices, which are astonishingly high compared to pre-pandemic levels. High interest rates contribute to higher rent costs in several ways – keeping renters in their units, thereby constricting the supply of new rental units; making construction costlier; and increasing mortgage rates for landlords, who may pass these costs on to their tenants in the form of rent hikes.
“(H)igh interest rates have aggravated the country’s persistent crisis of housing access and affordability. Mortgage rates have risen to 20-year highs in the past year—a direct result of the Federal Reserve’s campaign of aggressive hikes to the federal funds rate,” wrote the senators. “The Fed’s decision to raise interest rates rapidly, and keep them high, has resulted in higher costs for home purchasers, higher rents, and reductions in new home and apartment building—and the job growth that comes with these investments.”
“The effects of the Fed’s monetary policy also extend to the rental market. As high costs and interest rates deter prospective first-time home buyers, many families and individuals choose to stay in the rental market,” they continued. “We urge the Fed to reverse its aggressive hikes to the federal funds rate in 2024”
The full text of the letter can be found HERE.
Senator Rosen is fighting to lower housing costs for Nevadans. She recently introduced the Housing Oversight and Mitigating Exploitation (HOME) Act to crack down on housing price gouging by corporate investors who are driving up home prices by buying up housing stock. Last year, she led her colleagues in a letter to Senate Appropriators requesting that they fund the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Veterans Affairs and Supportive Housing program. Senator Rosen also helped secure nearly $15 million in funding to address homelessness and housing insecurity in southern Nevada and more than $48 million to increase access to affordable housing in the state. Rosen also helped pass legislation to provide nearly $165 million in funding to Nevada for emergency rental assistance, as well as the funding for Nevada’s $500 million Home Means Nevada Initiative.
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