Property taxes are the housing affordability crisis no one wants to touch

A mortgage has a final payment. Property taxes do not. That distinction is becoming increasingly important as the housing industry searches for answers to an affordability crisis it usually defines in terms of home prices, mortgage rates and household income. Those are obviously major factors. But they are not the entire payment. Property taxes can add hundreds or even thousands of dollars to a homeowner’s monthly housing expense. They reduce buyer qualification, diminish purchasing power and continue long after the mortgage has been satisfied. In 2025, approximately $396.8 billion in property taxes were levied on more than 89.6 million single-family homes in the United States. The average bill reached $4,427, or nearly $369 per month, according to ATTOM. At a hypothetical mortgage rate of 6.5%, that $369 monthly tax payment is roughly equivalent to the principal-and-interest payment on $58,000 of 30-year mortgage debt. That makes property-tax policy housing policy. It also raises a question that deserves far more attention from agents, lenders, builders, economists and policymakers: What would happen to the housing market if homeowners were allowed to keep more of that money? Star...