If you saw Tim Rood's extensive interview on CNBC the other morning on Trump Administration and housing policy direction, he introduced an interesting statistic I had never heard before. He claimed that the cost of regulation has added about $85 K to the cost of the average newly constructed home. So what you have is the "double-whammy" of long long mortgage loan periods matched to insane regulations that balloon the amount borrowed and, then, financed for 30 years.
I'll give you an example of what Rood stated on regulation overkill. I own a golf course condo in Venice, Florida with a glass sliding door opening to my screened back lanai. I wanted to replace it with updated french doors. Home Depot sells exactly what I want for about $2500, plus installation. But Mr. Code Enforcement says "Halt. Don't go there." All new doors and windows must meet hurricane code standards. Your revised cost... around $22 K, plus installation which is also 3X more costly due to code requirements for reinforced exterior carpentry. Now my existing doors do not meet hurricane codes standards, either, but never mind that. Just spend $20 K more because some petty bureaucrat wants to throw his weight around.
Trump wants to drain the regulatory swamp. Doing so in housing construction can go along way towards eliminating needless, huge amounts of regulatory cost that get buried within the labyrinth of mortgages financed and on which interest gets paid for 30 years.
JMHO.
