Overview
- President Trump has refocused on cost of living and blamed the Biden administration for the crisis, while a Marist/NPR/PBS poll shows nearly six in ten voters want price relief and his net approval has fallen sharply among millennials and Generation Z.
- Since January, real average weekly earnings are up 1.2%, the CPI excluding housing is up 2.2%, and the housing component is running at roughly twice that pace, highlighting shelter costs as the main pressure point.
- Zillow reports the average home price has climbed more than 45% since the pandemic, and the median first-time buyer is now about 40 years old.
- Coverage attributes high housing costs to restrictive state and local zoning and a decade of underbuilding, with one estimate putting the shortage near 7 million homes.
- The administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill is now law, featuring full expensing for equipment and structures and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime, yet analysts contend supply constraints persist and urge action targeting local barriers to building.