Dear Editor:

The Realtor.com website shows the median sold price for a home In Lincoln County is $374,900. Home ownership is a gauge of the economic health of a country. The ability to buy a home is affected by average cost of homes, wages, interest rates, supply of homes on the market, and the stability of prices, and wages. Home ownership increased almost continuously from 1942 to about 1980 then entered a 14-year slump ending in 1994. From then it entered a period of increase and continued to rise to a record high of 69.2% in 2004. It then entered a 12-year decline bottoming at 62.9% in 2016.   

Starting in 2017 and continuing for the next three plus years of Trump’s presidency (before the numbers were affected by Covid) home ownership increased at an unprecedented rate to peak at 67.9% erasing 12 years of decline. Using the first 3.25 years of the Trump and Biden presidencies, home price increases were 14 times higher under the Biden administration.

Up until recently, home ownership was a realistic goal for anyone who was willing to work. There was a match between rising wages and rising home prices. I fear that hopes and dreams will be lost for many of our young people unless dramatic changes are made in Washington. Many people in the federal government today came in 15 years ago with the Obama administration. Biden, Harris, and their deep state set the course that we are on now. Harris is offering $25,000 to home buyers and talking about price controls and hope. She is promising that her administration will pivot and change course for the betterment of our country. Promises are cheap - actions speak louder than words. Trump showed it can be done. The choice now is up to the voter. Our young adults can make the difference in this election. Their opportunity or even the hope of home ownership is on the ballot. Harris is partly right. With change (in Washington) comes hope. The source for data was The St. Louis Fed.

Joe Grant

Wiscasset