Owning a home is getting much more expensive, which is bad for buyers, sellers, and young people trying to build wealth.

• Yearly costs of owning a home jumped from $20,000 in 2019 to $28,500 in 2025, far outpacing inflation.
• The biggest jumps are in insurance, maintenance, and emergency repairs, with repair costs up 175%.
• Private equity firms have bought up local plumbing and AC repair shops and are squeezing homeowners who have no choice but to pay.
• People who want to move are stuck, since buying today costs too much, freezing millions of homes off the market.
• Rising costs are blamed partly on the ultra-rich buying up assets, with electricity bills also climbing as AI data centers get priority on the power grid.

Outlook: Morgan Stanley expects affordability to stay painfully tight for years even if mortgage rates ease, locking many out of homeownership.