Plenty of people (everyone?) would love for housing to be more affordable for those looking to buy a home.

But... here's the tricky part...

Affordability mostly comes down to two things... home values... and mortgage interest rates.  

Thus, generally, housing will only get more affordable if home prices go down, if mortgage interest rates go down, or both.

Everyone would love it if mortgage interest rates would drop meaningfully, but that does not seem to be a likely reality over the next year or two.

And...if interest rates stay roughly where they are now... then the only way for housing to become any more affordable is for... home values to go down.

This is the tricky part.

Clearly, people hoping to buy want housing to be more affordable... but many people who currently own a home also say they wish housing were more affordable. 

But... if asked whether they'd be fine with their own home's value dropping by $50K or $100K, the answer is typically a pretty quick.... well of course not.

That's understandable. For many or most families, their home is their largest financial asset, and they aren't that excited about its value dropping significantly.

Which leaves us with the conundrum... how serious are you about wanting housing to be more affordable?  Serious enough to be fine with your home's value significantly decreasing?

It is unrealistic, after all, to think that housing could be more affordable for new buyers without current homeowners seeing a decline in their home's value.

It's hard to have it both ways.