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The death of the starter home

WBUR | By Here & Now Newsroom

Published July 28, 2026 at 12:02 PM EDT

An advertising sign for building land stands in front of a new home construction site in Northbrook, Ill., Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)

The median sales price for an existing home is now more than $440,000, according to the National Association of Realtors. That’s pricing out many first-time buyers and denying them a critical pillar of the American Dream — homeownership.

Jackie Cooperman wrote about the death of the starter home for a joint project for Architectural Digest and WIRED, and she joins host Indira Lakshmanan to discuss.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.