This is absolutely peak woke from one of the nation's largest finance and business publications, CNBC.
The housing market, which is absolutely insane right now, is bringing pain to everyone looking to buy. But, according to CNBC the housing crisis is even worse if you're gay.
Yeah, the housing market affects literally everyone and is putting the crunch on families across the United States. But it's even tougher if you're LGBTQETC.
The CNBC story tells the story of Skandar Mrad who is having a tough time finding a small home to live in after the 40-year-old man's roommates moved out of his apartment.
Yes, this is a 40-year-old man with roommates. I am shocked to see that he's having a tough time entering the housing market.
However, his roommates moved out, and Mrad, 40, decided it was time to become a homeowner. He originally wanted to live within five miles of his work, but quickly found that may not be realistic in a hyper-competitive market.
"It was so strange for me to see a line of people outside an open house waiting to get in. I couldn't believe there was that much of a demand. … I kind of didn't know what I was getting myself into," Mrad said.
He began looking for homes early this year, and that five-mile radius soon expanded to 30 miles. At the same time, the Federal Reserve began hiking its benchmark interest rate, sending mortgage rates soaring. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage jumped to 5.78% the week of June 16, according to Freddie Mac, seeing its biggest one-week jump since 1987.
Oh, and he's also gay! This wouldn't have affected a straight person the same way. Because reasons. Duh.
And there are reasons... they just have nothing to do with discrimination or anything like that.
This rapid rise in the cost of a home is particularly impactful for the LGBTQ community, which is less likely to own a home. First-time homebuyers have to pay the higher prices without getting a boost from the value selling an existing property that they own.
According to the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, 50% of LGBTQ adults and 64% of LGBTQ couples own their own homes. For non-LGBTQ groups, those numbers are 70% and 75%.
Historical data on home ownership rates by sexuality were not tracked by the Census Bureau, but surveys from the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance suggests that home ownership for couples and singles in the community has been trending up since the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in 2015. Zillow reported in 2021 that LGBT people accounted for 12% of homebuyers, up from 7% in 2019.
So the housing market is tough on first-time home buyers. And LGBTQ individuals are more likely to be first-time homebuyers.
Therefore, homophobia.
Or something like that.
Houses don't cost more for gay people than straight people. There's no discrimination. Everyone is in the same market.
But woke's gotta woke and media's gotta media.
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