# How the American Dream of Homeownership Became Unaffordable | Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C. Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-signal-sitdown-7035152/how-the-american-dream-of-homeownership-became-unaffordable-rep-pat-harrigan-r-n-c Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-signal-sitdown-7035152/how-the-american-dream-of-homeownership-became-unaffordable-rep-pat-harrigan-r-n-c.md Podcast: [The Signal Sitdown](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-signal-sitdown-7035152) Published: 2026-01-22T10:00:00+00:00 Episode link: https://www.dailysignal.com/ Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/THEDAILYSIGNAL2934217086.mp3?updated=1778531428 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-signal-sitdown-7035152/episodes/how-the-american-dream-of-homeownership-became-unaffordable-rep-pat-harrigan-r-n-c Duration seconds: 2818 ## Resource America has hit another record, but it’s not a good one. Last year, the median age of the first-time home buyer in America hit 40 years old. In the 1980s, the average age of the first-time homebuyer in America was just 28. What happened? Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., joins us this week on “The Signal Sitdown” to explain how multi-billion-dollar institutional investors like BlackRock are crowding out younger families from buying homes. “The longer that you delay somebody from getting into that first house, the longer you delay their wealth-building trajectory toward actually putting themselves in a very solid, fiscally responsible position, which is where you want the middle class.” Follow us on Instagram for EXCLUSIVE bonus content and the chance to be featured in our episodes: https://www.instagram.com/problematicwomen/ Connect with our hosts on socials! Elise McCue X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=EliseMcCue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elisemccueofficial/ Virginia Allen: X: https://x.com/intent/user?screen_name=Virginia_Allen5 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virginiaallenofficial/ Check out Top News in 10, hosted by The Daily Signal’s Tony Kinnett: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjMHBev3NsoUpc2Pzfk0n89cXWBqQltHY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-signal-sitdown-7035152/episodes/how-the-american-dream-of-homeownership-became-unaffordable-rep-pat-harrigan-r-n-c/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-signal-sitdown-7035152/how-the-american-dream-of-homeownership-became-unaffordable-rep-pat-harrigan-r-n-c.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.