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This column reflects the opinion of the writer. Learn about the differences between a news story and an opinion column.

Housing price pain

Are you currently looking at houses? If not, many people are. In fact, so many people are that it is nearly impossible to find one available. People are moving places they wouldn’t expect, spending what they wouldn’t expect for a simple house.

According to Norada Real Estate, the average house cost in Spokane right now is $353,000. I don’t know about you, but this is ridiculous. Just last year, the average house cost was $277,500, so it has gone up 35.6% since 2020. Why is this the case? Why are people being forced to use all their savings to buy a house that would typically cost $60,000-$70,000 less, just last year?

According to an Urban Institute Report, if the country continues down the same path it is going, the U.S. home ownership rate is going to decrease to 62.1% in the next two decades. So why do we continue to put the prices up? Why do we focus our attention on the one house, and not the future of the economy? Everyone is going to be hurt either now, or in the near future; we just need to make the decision of how we are going to go about it.

Kadmiel Lopez

Spokane

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