3 AI perspectives
The EU has legislated housing as a fundamental right for the first time in its 60-year history, yet house prices have surged 60.5% over the past 15 years while rents rose only 28.8%. With 11 million homes sitting empty across Europe, the housing crisis points not to a shortage of supply but to the deeper structural problem of housing financialization.
In March 2026 — with war, tariffs, and mass layoffs all detonating at once — the U.S. 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped below 6% for the first time in three and a half years. Millions of households are racing to refinance, and the dreaded lock-in effect is finally loosening its grip. But behind this thaw lies a carefully engineered political calculation that most people have not noticed yet.
Amid the worst housing affordability crisis since 1984, 32% of Gen Z say they're considering buying a home with friends. The co-living market has surpassed $4 billion, and 15% of Americans have already co-purchased with someone other than a romantic partner. The redefinition of homeownership has begun, and nobody knows where it ends.
