Home is where the debt is

Business Daily

BBC

News, Business

4.4 • 796 Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2025

⏱️ 18 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Is the dream of home ownership slipping out of reach for many Americans?

Prices are climbing, supply can’t keep up with demand, and high interest rates are keeping sellers on the side-lines.

Tariffs and rising construction costs are squeezing builders too, piling more pressure on families and the economy.

We hear from first-time buyers, builders and real estate agents all trying to navigate the changing market.

Produced and presented by Monica Miller

(Image: A family look at a new home in the US. Credit: Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:07.0	Hello and welcome to Business Daily on the BBC World Service with me, Monica Miller.
0:12.0	For generations in the U.S., homeownership has been a symbol of stability and a path to wealth.
0:18.0	But now, many homeowners are struggling to live the American dream.
0:22.8	It's an exhausting dream. It's a hard dream to obtain. Home developers say that they can't build
0:27.7	quickly or cheaply enough to meet demand. With material shortages that came out of COVID and now
0:33.7	tariffs being in place, it's an extremely uncertain industry.
0:38.9	Experts say stiff competition and high interest rates are making it hard for buyers to find the perfect home.
0:44.7	The modern American is kind of inheriting a very complex housing market that is in a lot of ways very different than it was even 20 or 30 years ago.
0:58.2	Why home ownership in the U.S. is so out of reach for many, and what does it mean for the American dream?
1:04.3	That's all coming up on today's program.
1:10.2	Robert McKenna is settling into his new home in Pennsylvania.
1:13.9	The hard work of unpacking is almost done.
1:17.3	Neatly piled cardboard boxes are ready for trash pickup on the porch of his two-story single-family home.
1:23.6	He now has time to enjoy his new backyard and play fetch with Kia, a five-year-old golden doodle.
1:30.3	This was important when we were getting the house to have a backyard so she could do this.
1:36.2	So she's great at the fetch part, but not the bring-back part.
1:39.8	You look so happy there on the grass.
1:42.4	It's me like trying to convince her to give me the ball, and then she never does.
1:47.0	Hey.
1:47.8	Robert and his wife, Megan, say that they are happy the house hunting process is finally over.
1:53.1	They look forward to having their weekends and nights free after months of going to open houses.
	...

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