WATCH: How to unlock the housing market before an entire generation gives up

Video

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

OPINION:

Michael Burkentine, partner with the America First Policy Institute’s “Make Housing Great Again” initiative, joins Washington Times Commentary Editor Kelly Sadler on Politically Unstable to unpack the affordable housing crisis the U.S. is facing and what can be done to help solve it and save the American dream.

[SADLER] We’re going to talk about the affordability crisis, and especially that of which the younger generation doesn’t feel like they can obtain the American dream because of housing prices. They’re being blocked out of the housing market. Over the last six years, housing prices here in America have increased about 60 percent.

So the question is, what can lawmakers do? What can the president do to bring down the price of housing, to make it more affordable so that more people can achieve the American dream?

What are some of the initiatives that you’re pushing forward, and what are some of the problems that you see in the marketplace right now?

[BURKENTINE] It’s a question that a lot of Americans, and especially American families, are having right now. You know, how do we progress forward as a family? You know, we have a lot of young people trying to start families and they’re pushing everything right. You know, you saw the data — it was a few months ago — average home buying age is 40 years old. So imagine that. You know, 40 years old. Back in the old days, you know, it was 25, 26.

So what we have been messaging to the Senate and the Congress and the White House — and it’s been very successful and we’ve really gotten through to them — is what things work, what things don’t work. And, you know, I’m actually sitting in our corporate office right now as a home builder. So we have the knowledge. We understand what will work and what won’t.

You hear a lot of deregulation and red tape. And really, where that benefits us is in the land development industry. When you’re putting in the streets and roads and curbs and you’re purchasing the land properly, like all of those things come into play. And I was in a meeting this morning actually talking about this — about we can’t buy this piece of land, but we can buy this piece of land — because the net price that is going to be passed on to the consumer is just far too high. And honestly, it’s gotten to a point where it’s simply not fair.

So what we’re doing is we’re talking about zoning. You know, one thing that has been huge on the White House’s docket is to trickle down to the state and local levels about rezoning. So if we can get smaller lots — so imagine, you know, having townhomes that are not 35, 40 foot wide, that are 20 foot wide, 22 foot wide — as a builder, these are the homes, these are the starter family homes that we can price right, we can buy right, we can budget right. And that is the messaging that has really been pushed upon the legislators.

[SADLER] But this isn’t a federal issue, right? This is more of a state and local issue, depending on where you live in the country, what zoning regulations homebuilders like yourself are subject to. Which states are doing it right? Which states are doing it wrong? And could you describe that a little bit? Are there better places, or more affordable places? There obviously are in America than others. But I mean, this is a universal problem that I don’t think can be solved at the federal level.

[BURKENTINE] As much as we want to have a magic wand at the federal level that says, you know, oh, here you go, America, here’s a way to get out of a dodge and get your family economically friendly — but it’s not the case, right? They have a certain bandwidth and accessibility due to the Constitution.

So what we’ve been doing, we’re working with people like American Enterprise Institute — if you visit their website, the Housing Institute down there has these playbooks that they’re rolling out to all these different communities. And by having those, it basically gives them a roadmap and through data analysis to be able to say, hey, here’s what we think you should do based on X, Y, and Z. And I’m happy to report there’s a list of around — I think we’re up to 18 states — that are adopting 50% to 60% of what’s in that playbook, which is monumental, really, because we’re infecting change within that industry.

You know, we’re running around talking to, you know, statewide chambers and all types of different people at the state and local level that are pushing certain agendas that are coming out of Washington, D.C. with organizations like American Enterprise Institute.

[SADLER] The president has put a lot of focus on interest rates and that we need to get interest rates down in order to make housing more affordable. I mean, and that is true. It feels like just a few years ago, you could get a house mortgage at a 2.9% interest rate or lower. Right now, it’s at 6% or 7%, which is pricing a lot of people out of the market. Some of the homebuyers that have those low interest rates don’t want to sell because they can’t climb up — they can’t get a bigger house with a higher interest rate. And that has an impact on the supply.

Is that an issue that you’re seeing? And how does that happen, especially with the war in Iran? It doesn’t look like interest rates will be coming down anytime soon.

[BURKENTINE] So as a builder, the way we’re trying to control the interest rate message — and we have model homes that are advertising, you know, low fives, mid fives — because we’re buying down the rate. So we’re actually taking it on the chin, but ultimately those costs get passed on to the buyer regardless. You know, in some cases they don’t, some cases they do. But you know, a lot of national builders like D.R. Horton, they spent a lot of money last year. They reported — I forget the exact total — but the total buy-down, and what that means is they’re basically purchasing and sticking money into the deal to bring that interest rate down to lower your payment, to achieve the sale and get heads in beds, right? And get these sales moving.

So that tactic has been very costly, but it also doesn’t mean that it’s happening all the time. You know, if five and 6% is a lot of money, right, and it’s driving the bus when it comes to affordability. But like we started the conversation with, having these costs at the land development level and driving those down is just as important.