NBC News: What economists say about JD Vance’s claim that immigrants drive up housing costs

Photo from Senator Vance website

During the Vice Presidential debate earlier this week, JD Vance blamed immigrants for, among many things, the nation’s high housing prices.  NBC News takes a look at Senator Vance’s claim.    

“Look, in Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country, you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you have got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes,” Vance said. Along with zoning reform, Vance and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump have premised a mass-deportation plan that they argue would reduce competition for housing and prices.

As reported, 

“[m]any economists caution that connecting rising numbers of immigrants to housing costs is no simple thing. Some have said there is no way to examine existing data and surveys in real time to determine the extent of immigrants’ impact on individual housing markets — though a chart drawn up by Ernie Tedeschi, a former White House chief economist for President Joe Biden, showed no clear connection between foreign-born population growth and native-born home prices on a national scale.”

Just from a cursory look at the data, there does not appear to be any relationship between metro areas that saw the greatest immigration during the pandemic and the greatest increase in housing prices among the native-born. pic.twitter.com/fA03bqkqv2

— Ernie Tedeschi (@ernietedeschi) October 2, 2024

KJ