Real estate experts predict high price rentals, home prices to continue

(CNN) – New data found in the national home price index this week shows U.S. home prices jumped nearly 20% year-over-year in February. Real estate experts report prices for both houses and rentals are not going to crash anytime soon.

So, what can be done to bring down these sky-high prices? And help those who are struggling?

California resident Erin McCarroll and mother of three, said she recently was served an eviction notice.

“This is so humiliating,” she said.

McCarroll also said she is currently battling breast cancer.

“It’s like, helpless and drowning,” she said.

McCarroll lives just south of Los Angeles in Orange County – one of the hottest, most expensive real estate markets in the country. She said her rent for her one-bedroom apartment has gone up from $2,600 a month to $2,800.

She said that raise is too much to afford, especially with her medical bills.

“Rents, unfortunately, will continue to rise,” said Richard Green, director at the University of Southern California Center for Real Estate.

Green studies housing markets around the world and said he doesn’t see a crash that could spell relief.

“I don’t see where a crash comes from. I mean, could you see a small decline, sure,” Green said.

Real estate broker Juan Huizar said the crisis of sky-high prices is profoundly personal.

Huizar remembers coming to California from Mexico 38 years ago, cramming into a single home with multiple families.

“There’s simply not enough inventory. So, if one house hits the market, there are 30 qualified buyers to buy it,” he said.

Green said there aren’t enough rentals, either. More empty units push prices down.

“We have one of the biggest cities in the world, and in the vast majority of it, you can only build single-family houses. That is the number one problem,” Green said.

Huizar said there’s pressure to create more housing, and through that pressure, community leaders are creating policies for more housing projects.

McCarroll said that a religious charity has helped her pay some of her back rent, but she still needs more assistance.

“I don’t have a place to go; I don’t,” she said.

Copyright 2022 CNN Newsource. All rights reserved.