哈佛大學日前發布的年度國家住房報告稱，房價和房租的暴漲再加上利率的上調讓數百萬美國人的住房夢更加遙不可及，按揭利率的上升也讓貸款買房者面臨失去房屋所有權的威脅。

The record run-up in home prices and rents exacerbated the affordable housing crisis in the US, and rising interest rates stand to make it even worse, according to Harvard University's annual State of the Nation's Housing Report released Wednesday.

哈佛大學6月22日發布的年度國家住房報告稱，房價和房租的創紀錄暴漲加劇了美國的住房可負擔性危機，與此同時利率的上調將讓這一局面雪上加霜。

Although quickly rising mortgage rates are already appearing to cool overheated housing markets, they are putting the homeownership dreams of millions of Americans even further out of reach, researchers and housing industry experts said.

研究人員和房地產專家指出，盡管房貸利率的快速上升似乎已經讓過熱的住宅市場降溫，但是卻讓數百萬美國人的住房夢更加遙不可及。

The income needed to qualify for a home has skyrocketed: The mortgage, property tax and insurance payments for a median-priced home of $340,700 cost $700 more per month in April 2022 than they did a year before. And the annual income needed to qualify for such a home is $28,000 higher in April 2022 versus last year, according to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, which analyzed data from Freddie Mac and the National Association of Realtors.

通過分析房地美和全國房地產經紀人協會的數據，哈佛大學聯合住房研究中心發現，符合買房資格所需的收入水平一路飆升：2022年4月購買一套34萬美元的中等價位住房每月要支付的按揭、房產稅和保險費比一年前增加了700美元，購買這樣一套住房所需的年收入門檻也比一年前高出了2.8萬美元。

This has priced out about 4 million renters over the past year alone, said Daniel T. McCue, senior research associate at the Joint Center for Housing Studies.

聯合住房研究中心的高級副研究員丹尼爾·T·麥丘指出，光是在去年，這一年收入門檻就讓約400萬租戶的購房夢化為泡影。

In March 2022, home prices rose 20.6% year-over-year — which was the largest jump in 30 years of record-keeping, according to Joint Center for Housing Studies. Rents shot up as well, especially for single-family homes that served as remote office spaces for families during the pandemic.

聯合住房研究中心稱，2022年3月，美國房價同比上漲20.6%，創下了有記錄的30年以來的最大漲幅。房租也出現大幅上漲，尤其是在疫情期間同時作為遠程辦公空間來使用的單戶住宅的房租。

That caught the eye of investment firms, which snapped up moderately priced homes in booming markets to then rent out or flip for a profit. Investor holdings accounted for nearly 30% of all homes sold during the first quarter of this year, Harvard's housing studies researchers noted.

在注意到這一情況后，投資公司迅速在繁榮的房地產市場上買下了價格合理的房屋，然后將其出租或轉手獲利。哈佛大學的住房研究人員指出，今年一季度售出的房屋近30%都歸投資者所有。

New construction increased as well, but the majority of those new homes sold for more than $400,000, putting them out of reach for first-time home buyers, the researchers said.

研究人員表示，新建房屋的數量也有增加，但是大部分新房的售價都在40萬美元以上，這超出了首次購房者的經濟承受能力。

"Folks that are trying to buy their first homes, families that are trying to transition from out of rental [housing] into something more affordable ... the market right now is not working for that demographic," said Alanna McCargo, president of Ginnie Mae, the federally owned mortgage backer.

美國聯邦政府國民抵押貸款協會吉利美主席阿蘭娜·麥卡戈說：“那些試圖購買首套房的人，還有試圖購買廉價房的租房家庭……目前的市場不適合他們。”

Adding increased concern, she said, are not only the rising rates of evictions and foreclosures after pandemic-related moratoriums were lifted, but also the impact of inflation.

麥卡戈指出，除了因疫情期間的延期償付取消而被房東趕出家門和被收回房屋的比例不斷上升，雪上加霜的還有通貨膨脹的影響。

While the Federal Reserve seeks to soften demand for homes and curb inflation by raising rates, it can do very little to address ongoing constraints on the number of available homes for sale, Fed chairman Jerome Powell said Wednesday in testimony before the Senate Banking Committee. Still, he cautioned, rising mortgage rates could ultimately price people out of homeownership.

美國聯邦儲備委員會主席杰羅姆·鮑威爾6月22日在參議院銀行業委員會的聽證會上作證詞陳述時說，盡管美聯儲力求通過上調利率來緩和住房需求和抑制通貨膨脹，但是對于解決當前在售可負擔住房不足的問題能做的十分有限。但是他還是警告稱，房貸利率的不斷上漲最終可能會讓人們失去房屋所有權。

Should monetary policy tighten and spur an economic downturn, that presents an even greater concern, Harvard researchers wrote.

哈佛大學的研究人員寫道，如果貨幣政策收緊并引發經濟衰退，造成的問題將會更令人擔憂。

"With so many households financially stressed by high housing costs, a serious downturn could transform the recent uptick in housing insecurity into a wave," they wrote.

他們寫道：“眼下有這么多家庭都在遭受高房價帶來的經濟壓力，嚴重衰退可能會把近期住房不安全的苗頭演變為浪潮。”

英文來源：美國有線電視新聞網

翻譯&編輯：丹妮