BIDENOMICS IS WORKING: In more than 200 U.S. cities, $1 million only gets you a starter home.

A typical entry-level home in the U.S. costs roughly $200,000. But in a growing number of cities, that would only cover the down payment.

With housing in short supply around the country and the stiffest mortgage rates in years, you need at least $1 million to buy a starter home in 237 cities, according to a Zillow analysis. That’s a hefty sum for a place to live that’s defined in the report as being in the lowest third of home values in a given region. The new data marks a significant rise from five years ago, when only 84 U.S. cities had starter homes that cost seven figures.

How did we get here?

The pandemic exacerbated an existing housing shortage in cities across the U.S., which is most pronounced in Boston; Portland, Oregon, and Sacramento, California, according to Zillow. Despite robust residential home construction in 2023, the 1.4 million homes that were built do not sufficiently close the gap between available units and the number of home seekers in the U.S.

Normally, this kind of market distortion would work itself out as supply catches up to demand. But California in particular is hostile to new home construction.