Mises Institute 50-Year Mortgages Won’t Make Housing More Affordable
Nov 12, 2025
A proposed 50-year mortgage may sound like a solution for housing affordability, but it's actually a misguided approach. The real issue lies in an artificial housing shortage, exacerbated by zoning laws and local NIMBYism. Homeowner preferences often block new developments, while government overreach complicates property rights. Environmental regulations and demand-side subsidies further inflate prices. To genuinely tackle the housing crisis, we need to eliminate supply constraints instead of introducing risky financial products.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Artificial Shortage Drives High Housing Prices
- The core housing problem is an artificial shortage caused by supply constraints.
- Artificial scarcity pushes prices above what a freer market would produce.
Zoning And NIMBYism Restrict New Housing
- Zoning and NIMBYism restrict what developers can build and where.
- Those rules let existing homeowners block new housing to preserve value and neighborhood character.
Regulations Inflate Construction Costs
- Environmental and procedural regulations raise construction costs and slow projects.
- These rules compound supply shortages by making development more expensive and time-consuming.