A working paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas concluded that the large influx of illegal aliens during the Biden administration drove up housing prices and rents.
According to the paper, roughly 7 million people illegally came to the United States between 2021 and 2024.
This spike of illegal immigration “raised local house prices and rents without expanding housing supply,” acting as a “demand shock to local housing markets.”
Using court records and border enforcement information alongside housing market data, the economists estimated that illegal immigration “can explain about 30% of the total growth in house prices and 20% of total growth in rents over the boom period for the average local market.”
“We’ve actually been saying this for a number of months now,” U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R–Irving) told CBS News. “I don’t think people sometimes understand the ramifications of having so many folks enter your country illegally in such a short period of time and the financial disaster that it causes.”
Although housing costs have begun to ease, prospective homeowners continue to face affordability challenges. The National Association of Home Builders calculated that in Texas, a $1,000 median price increase would price out roughly 15,000 households.
John Bonura and Selene Rodriguez from the Texas Public Policy Foundation are urging lawmakers to “ensure that scarce housing opportunities first serve the people to whom this country ultimately owes its highest obligation.”
U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill (R–Flower Mound) also reacted to the paper on X. “Illegal immigration drove up your home prices 30% and rent 20% under Biden. While you got priced out, your federal government was handing illegal aliens taxpayer-backed mortgages.”
Gill introduced the Homeownership Eligibility Reform Act in late June. The legislation would restrict eligibility for federally backed mortgages to U.S. citizens only.
