Homes near Lone Mountain in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Photographer: Ronda Churchill/BloombergHigh Prices, Low Supply: Three Swing State Cities Show the Housing Crunch
Middle-class housing pain is especially acute in Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Atlanta areas
Andy Balmert thought he had checked all the boxes for home ownership. He has a college degree, built up solid credit and works as a special-effects operator for a luxury hotel casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
The market didn’t agree. Balmert’s search stretched for eight months as he spent countless hours on real estate apps and visited a dozen Las Vegas homes in a day. It ended in August after he received a $50,000 grant from a new program targeting middle-class households, another sign the affordability crisis has spread far beyond low-income Americans.