Jerome Powell traps housing market, listings rise buyers vanish. Cheap mortgages lock owners in place, market freezes.


Nearly three in five Americans think AI will push homeownership even further out of reach

The U.S. housing market is a far cry from what it was in the post-war era. Back then, the median home price sat at about $7,300, or about $101,000 adjusted for inflation. Gen Z and Millennials are especially struggling to score the purchase that’s considered the heart of the American dream. The median first-time homebuyer bought their home at age 40 last year, up from the early 30s from just a decade ago. And now, prospective homebuyers are being walloped by a competing reality: an encroaching AI-driven “jobpocalypse,” which could push homeownership even further out of reach—or erase the prospect altogether.

“I think that AI and the potential for AI layoffs is a major part of that economic anxiety that’s holding people back from making a commitment to buying a home—even though it got more affordable to buy one,” Daryl Fairweather, Redfin’s chief economist, told Fortune.

A new survey of 4,000 U.S. residents conducted by Ipsos and commissioned by real-estate brokerage Redfin found that nearly 3 in 5 Americans (59%) think AI will eliminate jobs and make it even harder to afford homes. Not only do Americans have to contend with rising home costs, but they now have to fear the loss of their jobs due to AI—moving the goalposts even further from achieving the American dream.