State of the Nation's Housing: Housing Production, Supply Still Coming Up Short

"Although household growth is returning to a more normal pace, our new State of the Nation's Housing report shows that housing production still falls short of what is needed, which is keeping pressure on house prices and rents and eroding affordability," according to the website that hosts the 2019 "The State of the Nation's Housing" report, as well as several other maps and resources to supplement an understanding of the report's findings.

A press release promoting the report [pdf] digs into the report in more detail, blaming low home construction levels on rising land prices and regulatory constraints on development. "These constraints, largely imposed at the local level, raise costs and limit the number of homes that can be built in places where demand is highest," according to a soundbite from Chris Herbert, managing director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies, in the press release.

As for where the report finds some return to normalcy after the Great Recession, the report finds a sharply rising number of homeowners—but even those figures are couched in indicators of a less affordable housing market.