Exclusive: most renters surveyed by Harris Poll say the areas they live in have become so unaffordable they are ‘barely livable’
The poll, conducted by the Harris Poll Thought Leadership and Future Practice, asked survey takers to identify themselves as renters or homeowners, along with other demographic information. Those polled were asked their opinion on home ownership in the United States. For many, especially renters, the outlook is bleak.
Though the vast majority of renters polled said they want to own a home in the future, 61% said they are worried they will never be able to. A similar percentage believe no matter how hard they work, they’ll never be able to afford a home.
“When you think about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and housing is right at that foundational level of security, the implications on consumer psyche when things feel so unaffordable is something that will impact everyone,” said Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer at Harris Poll. The American dream of owning a home “is looking more like a daydream for renters”.
That’s because people don’t “dream” of owning an 800 sq.ft. condo. They dream of owning a 4k+ sq.ft. palace on 3 acres of land.
I dream of owning a ~1300 Sqft home with like a decent little yard. Those are also basically unaffordable where I live.
Then you have to move. Those homes are available in many towns all over America.
Where careers and people aren’t. A cheap house in the middle of nowhere doesn’t do you any good if you’re commuting 3+ hours each direction every day
Or maybe because in most places with jobs it’s illegal to build anything else.
Does it matter if it’s legal or not if it’s not what they want?
How do you know what they want? Seems like you’re just projecting onto millions of individual households.
It’s just common sense
You’re right about one thing: making things up and projecting things into strangers is unfortunately common