Analysis: America’s housing dream is broken

A new report shows that first-time buyers made up just 26% of all homebuyers in the year ending in June. That’s an all-time low over the four decades that the National Association of Realtors has been conducting its survey. The typical age of a first time homebuyer is now a record 36 years old, up from 33 last year. The U.S. has failed to build enough homes and build in the wrong places, too many in urban areas, says Jenny Schuetz. Housing is broken. I don’t purport to have a silver bullet, but it’s clear that land restrictions and outdated zoning are a big part of the problem, she writes. In 2009, in the middle of the Great Recession . . .