Young people are still trying to achieve the American dream of purchasing their first home but it's become increasingly more difficult in recent years.
It's not as easy today to buy a home. Many people are living in apartments or townhomes instead of houses and some may also have a roommate or two to save money in an era of higher costs for housing.
Texas-based Economist Vance Ginn calls it more of an American dream instead of the American dream because it's a different dream for everyone and young people are having to scale back their dreams of ending up in a bigger home.
"Folks who are just starting in their careers and trying to find a house have had to downsize those aspirations on how big of a house they can get," he said.
The high housing costs are a result of multiple things happening at the federal level but also at local levels too. Ginn said excessive government spending and the Federal Reserve printing too much money have been a recipe for this disaster.
"There's a lot of local zoning regulations and other things that are hindering the supply of new homes being built," said Ginn. "This has contributed to housing unaffordability across the country."
Former President Donald Trump has also said that government overspending as well as the mass amounts of illegal aliens coming into the country over the last four years have caused the demand for housing and prices to skyrocket. Ginn said that approach of deporting illegal aliens can help the situation but it doesn't fully address the supply issue.
Vice President Kamala Harris has proposed building around three million new homes over the next few years and providing up to $25,000 in down-payment assistance to first-time buyers. Ginn said that would only increase the already high demand and the price of housing even more and the main focus should instead be on reducing inflation and federal spending.
"Cutting government spending and reducing the debt will contribute to less inflation so that people can afford things like housing and food," Ginn said.