For the housing sector, 2020 is poised to be a good year. Sales of new homes are expected to rise to a 13-year high of 750,000, and sales of existing homes likely will increase 3.7% to 5.56 million, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, in a HousingWire article.
Although these predictions promise rosy earnings for real estate agents, the truth is these homes mainly benefit people who already live securely and are looking to move. For the 1.2 billion people living in cities around the world without access to secure housing, these thousands of new houses do nothing to alleviate their situation.
Cities around the world are struggling to solve growing affordable housing crises. As an article originally published in the Wall Street Journal reports, “Some countries have focused on solutions promoting unshackled free markets while others have turned more to rent control and subsidies. But no approach has solved the crises and most have other negative ripple effects.”