Real Estate Map Shows Cities With Worst Housing Shortages

The U.S. is suffering from a historic housing supply shortage, and Newsweek has mapped the 10 cities with the worst problems in the country.

The top 10 cities with the worst housing supply shortages were Austin, Boston, Minneapolis, Portland, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose and Seattle. Five of them are in California.

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The research defined the deficit as the difference between two factors: the number of families looking for their own home and the number of homes available for rent or sale.

According to Zillow, America's housing deficit rose to 4.5 million in 2022, a 200,000 increase from 2021's figure of 4.3 million.

Among the causes of the deficits cited in the report were geographic constraints (especially in coastal areas where much of the worst shortages were), large influxes of new residents (such as in Austin and Seattle), and strict building regulations.

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Los Angeles and San Francisco, for example, have strict building codes as both cities are prone to earthquakes.

The cities with the largest increase in housing supply were Austin, Dallas, Houston, Jacksonville, Nashville, Orlando, Phoenix, Raleigh, San Antonio and Seattle.

America's increasing housing shortage has ramifications on affordability.

A recent study from Bankrate, based on analysis of Zillow and Redfin data, found that in all 50 of the largest U.S. metropolitan areas it was cheaper to rent than to buy.

While average rents in the U.S. were around $1,979 per month, the typical mortgage payments for median-priced homes sat much higher, at just over $2,700.

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"I don't think anyone would say that buying in this market is easy," said Skylar Olsen, chief economist at Zillow. "Those who already owned a home or were able to sneak in and buy one before rates doubled in 2022 are probably feeling grateful."

A Harris Poll study earlier this year found that 72 percent of Americans were not actively looking to buy a residence at all.

Experts have previously warned that U.S. cities may be failing in their approach toward dealing with affordability issues.

A working paper by Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies posited that continuing to build suburban homes in the hope this will reduce housing costs in cities may not be effective.

The report's preliminary findings suggested that expanding suburban housing had "little effect on urban housing affordability or on the welfare of low-income urban households."

Newsweek has previously mapped the U.S. cities with the biggest jumps in house prices since 2019.

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