U.S. obsessed with massive housing shortage: study

NEW YORK, July 15 (Xinhua) -- A housing shortage is seen in all corners of the United States, with 3.8 million homes short of the needs for both rental and ownership, according to a study released by Up for Growth on Thursday.

Home prices are up more than 30 percent over the past couple of years, making homeownership unaffordable for millions of Americans, and rents are rising sharply too, said the nonprofit research group made up of affordable housing and industry groups.

"It's very difficult to know precisely what the shortage is," Mark Zandi, the chief economist of Moody's Analytics, was quoted by National Public Radio as saying. "But the bottom line is, no matter what the estimate is, it's a lot of homes that we're undersupplied."

"The biggest culprit is this historic housing shortage. Strong demand and low supply mean higher prices," said National Public Radio in its report of the study.

Part of the problem goes back to the last housing crash, which happened around 2008. After that, many homebuilders went out of business, and economists say we didn't build enough for a decade, it added.