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A new White House report released on Monday says that government rules are a major reason housing has become so expensive in the U.S., estimating that regulations can add more than $100,000 to the cost of building a typical home.
The findings come from the latest Council of Economic Advisers’ Economic Report of the President, which describes a housing market where prices have far outpaced incomes and homeownership has become increasingly difficult for younger Americans.
Housing affordability has deteriorated sharply over the past two decades, according to the report. Since 2000, real house prices have increased 82%, compared with just 12% growth in real incomes. That gap has pushed the price-to-income ratio from about 2.5 to 4.1.
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The report places much of the blame on what it calls a “bureaucrat tax,” a combination of zoning restrictions, fees, delays, and building mandates that inflate construction costs.
“The costs and delays described above translate into an effective 42% bureaucrat tax on housing supply,” the report said, adding that these burdens “make up about 29.5% of the cost of a new home.” In practical terms, it says the bureaucrat tax “adds over $100,000 to the cost of a new single-family home.”
These rules have slowed construction and limited supply, meaning that when demand rises, prices increase instead of more homes being built, according to the report.
As a result, a typical homebuyer at the end of 2024 faced monthly mortgage payments of about $2,400–more than $1,000 higher than in 2019.
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In response to the housing affordability crunch outlined in the report, President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March aimed at reducing “unnecessary regulatory burdens that delay housing construction and increase housing costs for American families.”
The order directs multiple federal agencies to scale back rules related to environmental reviews, energy standards, and permitting processes. It also pushes states and local governments to adopt similar changes by offering incentives to speed up approvals and reduce building requirements.