Source: The Economist

Date Published: 08.10.2025

Link: America’s Housing Market is Shuddering

The pandemic-era “housebuilding boom” is coming to  a close, where people fled to Atlanta, Austin, and Miami to escape from covid regulations, enjoy the sun, and expand their personal space. From the rapid flux of internal migrants to these cities and the midwest, America’s housing market has slowed in the past three months due to the Federal Reserve’s high interest rates and Trump’s tariff policy weakening the economy. This slowing pattern is seen predominantly in the West and the South, as prices are still creeping up in the Northeast and Midwest. Beyond the covid boom cities, holiday towns and Florida are also being hit. This slowdown is partly deliberate so that the Fed can eliminate any above-target inflation, and also partly as a result of the economy slowing down too. Relief for homebuyers is ultimately unclear due to the interplay of tariffs, build-out of AI infrastructure and the rising capital spending of big tech companies in the US.