Rapid population growth strains on the rental market. Learn what’s happening and how it could alter the property management industry in the coming years.
Immigration is always a hot-button topic, and any discussion about it likely turns political. However, learning the facts on immigration and its potential influence on housing is vital for anyone in the property management industry, regardless of their personal beliefs.
Currently, about 15% of the American population is foreign-born. This means there were 49.5 million foreign-born people in the United States in 2023, and that number will continue growing.
Predicting how immigration will affect the housing market is challenging because people arrive in the country in all stages of life. We know it’s highly probable that immigration will strain an already fragile housing market. Jeremy Pound and the Strategic PM team recently took a deep dive into this controversial topic to glean facts. Here’s what they uncovered.
Population Growth and Housing Stress
According to Realtor.com, single-family homes were underbuilt by seven million units in 2023. As a result, we need about seven million more single-family homes, and that doesn’t account for the 130,000 immigrants that arrive in the U.S monthly.
You might live in an area with lots of construction and think the problem is managed as developers build new dwellings. However, currently much of this construction is multifamily units like apartments. Overall, we have a 2.5-million-unit housing shortfall, and the problem is only worsening.
More people are looking for a single-family home than at any time in U.S. history, and unless something is done about this shortage, we’re going to see more homeless people and more housing market strain.
