There is currently a housing affordability crisis in the U.S.
Over the past several years, housing affordability in the U.S. has worsened significantly as home prices and mortgage rates have both remained elevated. In 2025, a typical first-time homebuyer needed about $126,700 in annual income to afford the median-priced home, and only about 6 million of the nation’s nearly 46 million renters met that benchmark¹.
Many potential homeowners can no longer afford to buy a home. At the same time, renters continue to face meaningful pressure: in 2023, 22.6 million renter households — 50% of all renters — were cost-burdened, meaning they spent more than 30% of their income on housing and utilities. More than 12.1 million renters were severely burdened, spending more than half their income on housing and utilities¹.
Real estate has traditionally been viewed as one of the best ways for households to build wealth over time. But when housing becomes less affordable, it can also deepen wealth inequality. Property owners may build equity over time, while renters can face rising housing costs without the same opportunity to participate in home price appreciation.
Younger generations understand this and want to own real estate, but rising costs keep many from reaching their goals. While 87% of Gen Z feel homeownership is key to building wealth, nearly 80% felt home prices were their most significant barrier to entering the housing market.
The affordability challenge also does not affect every household equally. Longstanding gaps in homeownership persist across racial and ethnic groups, reflecting differences in income, wealth, and access to credit and down payment savings. That makes affordability not just a housing issue, but also an access and wealth-building issue.
Where Do We Go From Here?
So, what can be done to help address the housing affordability crisis? We believe progress requires both more housing supply and more pathways to participation in long-term wealth-building.
Building more affordable housing
According to Freddie Mac, the U.S. housing market remained short about 3.7 million housing units as of Q3 2024. That shortage continues to affect both homes for sale and homes for rent, putting pressure on affordability across the market².
That shortage is especially severe at the lower end of the market. In 2025, the National Low Income Housing Coalition reported a shortage of 7.1 million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renters, with only 35 affordable and available homes for every 100 such households nationwide³.
Increasing housing supply, especially affordable options for both renters and first-time buyers, is essential to improving affordability over time. More housing can help reduce pressure on prices and rents, improve stability, and support healthier local housing markets.
That can happen through a mix of approaches, including encouraging new development, improving zoning and permitting processes, supporting infrastructure that enables more housing, and creating incentives for projects that add affordable homes to the market.
Making it easier to buy a home
Buying a home remains difficult for many households, especially first-time buyers trying to save for a down payment while managing rent and other rising costs. Expanding access to homeownership will likely require a mix of policy change, financial innovation, and education.
Making home buying easier will likely require policy changes, financial innovation, and community initiatives. For example:
- Down payment assistance programs: Expand grants and low-interest loans that help first-time buyers reduce the upfront cash required to purchase a home.
- Targeted tax incentives: Consider tax policies that are more meaningful for lower- and middle-income first-time buyers.
- Financial education: Improve access to practical education that helps people understand budgeting, credit, mortgages, and long-term investing.
What We’re Focused on with Arrived
We founded Arrived with a mission to lower barriers to investing in residential real estate, so more people can participate in the asset class through a simple online platform.
Investing through Arrived is different from buying and living in a primary residence. But we believe that making residential real estate investing more accessible can help more people understand the asset class, learn how real estate fits within a portfolio, and participate in its potential for income and appreciation over time.
In support of our mission, we built Arrived, focusing on these key features:
Accessibility
Arrived offerings are available to both accredited and non-accredited investors, with most starting with a $100 minimum investment. That lower starting point can help more people begin building exposure to residential real estate over time.
Partnering with nonprofits
We partner with non-profits like JUST — an organization that invests in ambitious Black and Brown Texas female entrepreneurs to close the racial wealth gap — to provide financial assistance to organizations helping bridge economic divides or increase access to traditional homeownership.
Boosting financial literacy
At Arrived, we believe financial education is an important part of helping people make better long-term decisions. Personal finance is still not taught consistently across the country, which is one reason we continue investing in educational content designed to make real estate and investing easier to understand.
Supporting housing supply
We recognize the importance of increasing housing supply, which is why Arrived has expanded beyond equity investments in rental homes to also offer real estate-backed debt investments that can fund residential projects such as renovations, rehabs, and new home construction. While Arrived does not solve the housing shortage on its own, we believe expanding capital options across residential real estate can play a small role in helping more housing come to market over time.
Arrived Results So Far
Since launching in 2019, Arrived has seen incredible interest from everyday people looking to access property ownership. Unlike traditional real estate investors, who often have over $100k invested, Arrived clients represent a much broader population segment. Below are some stats about our users:
- More than 60,000 people have bought shares in Arrived properties.
- Over half of Arrived investors have invested less than $1k in rental properties.
- Over 100,000 current renters have signed up for Arrived to learn more about accessing property ownership.
But to understand the impact Arrived is making, it is best to hear directly from our clients.
