6.2 Housing Affordable to All Residents
With the increase in housing prices and the loss of rent control following the election of 1994, people on fixed incomes and those earning low wages suffered during the economic expansion of the 1990s. The downturn in the stock market in 2001, combined with more home mortgage options, increased interest in investing in housing. Constraints on the supply of housing in regions such as the Boston area meant that housing prices continued to rise, pricing out more and more middle-class and low-wage workers. The decline in mortgage interest rates, from about 8% in 2000 to less than 6% in 2003-2005, should have increased the affordability of housing, but instead contributed to the run-up in housing prices. When an increase in interest rates in 2006 contributed to a softening housing market, many people who purchased high-priced housing found themselves struggling to pay their mortgages, and many renters, long priced out of home ownership, are struggling to pay rents that continue to be among the highest in the nation. Housing continues to be the largest expense for most residents. In these tight and difficult times—with increasing health care, transportation, and utility costs—housing costs are straining the budgets of almost all income groups.
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