Source: EconLog
by David Hebert
“If there’s one thing we can count on in America, it’s that our elected officials will see an affordability crisis and respond to it by stimulating the demand side of the market. Today, we’re seeing this in the case of the housing industry, with Administration officials floating both a new (and improved!) 50-year mortgage and a portable mortgage. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says that both of these will help break the ‘logjam’ of owners who are stuck with their 3% mortgages and are reluctant to move, which will help with the affordability ‘crisis’ in the American housing market. After all, if more houses come on the market for sale, won’t that push prices down? This statement belies a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between supply and quantity supplied.” (12/05/25)