Here's how much Americans' take-home payments have risen under Biden

When President Joe Biden first took office in 2021, the average monthly new home payment was $1,915, but it has since shot up to $3,322 starting in the third quarter of 2023, according to a analysis by The Wall Street Journal.

After rising costs, housing is now less affordable than at any time in recent history, with mortgage rates exceeding 7% and median home prices rising to around $392,000 in October seconds in the WSJ. High inflation and a relative tightening of housing supply have led to higher prices, while high mortgage rates respond to the increased cost of credit.

The average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage hit an all-time low on January 7, 2021, at 2.65%, just days before Biden took office, seconds at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. Mortgage rates then hit a recent high of 7.76% on 2 November this year, retreating slightly to 7.03% on 7 December.

WSJ analysis of the housing market:

Average monthly payment for a new home
when Biden took office: $1,787

Average monthly payment for a new home
today: $3,322 pic.twitter.com/OBqjAM9Hr3

— Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) December 11, 2023

The rise in mortgage rates carry on hikes in the federal funds rate by the Federal Reserve, which puts the rate in a range of 5.25% and 5.50%, a 22-year high, to combat high inflation that reached a peak of 9.1% in June 2022. Many economists partially attribute the high inflation to Biden's huge government spending, which stems from acts he has signed as president such as the American Rescue Plan and the reduction of inflation.

Rent payments have not seen as steep an increase as they are less sensitive to rising interest rates, rising from an average of $1,784 per month in the first quarter of 2021 to $2,184 per month in the third quarter of 2023, according to the WSJ.

“President Biden has taken steps to lower housing costs by expanding federal funding to build and preserve more homes, reducing mortgage insurance premiums and helping student loan borrowers qualify for mortgages,” he said. a White House spokesman at the Daily Caller News Foundation. “More work needs to be done, and the president has a plan to lower housing costs by building and preserving nearly two million homes, providing down payment assistance to homebuyers who need it, and lowering rents through “Rental assistance for hundreds of thousands of families.”

High interest rates add a substantial amount to the cost of a home due to the long term of the loan, with just a 5% rate on a 30-year mortgage for a $320,000 home equaling almost $300,000 dollars in additional costs over the course of the loan. . At 8% interest on the same $320,000 home, homebuyers would pay an additional $525,297.

Americans have especially felt the effects of rising inflation under Biden in the housing sector, with costs rising 17.5% since January 2021, higher than the 17.1% increase in overall costs.

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