Joel Berner

We bought a small starter home and we're feeling like we're going to be there longer than we intended just because of the way the market works right now.

And so even for the people who might leave a starter home, they don't have a lot of options themselves.

So it's kind of this backup, this traffic jam.

Not only is land more expensive, there's a lot less of it to buy, according to a new report from Realtor.com.

Both houses and land got snatched up in a pandemic-era buying frenzy.

And the problem when it comes to land... As my grandpa would say, God only makes so much ground.

Joel Berner is a senior economist at Realtor.com.

As for the consequences of less, more expensive land...

And will continue to face a housing shortage in the U.S.

The average price for an acre in the Northeast has more than doubled since 2019 to more than $47,000.

Stephen Basaja, NPR News.