According to the National Association of Realtors, the median single-family home now costs $402,300, with qualifying income requirements reaching $120,819 for a 5% down payment. With 76.4 million households unable to afford even a $300,000 home, and the Federal Reserve's affordability monitor showing homeownership costs exceeding 30% of median income in most markets, America faces more than a housing crisis, it confronts a fundamental breakdown in the labor market mobility that has historically driven economic growth. In this Mobility Trap, housing costs have created a permanent economic geography that prevents workers from moving to opportunities, undermining the labor market flexibility that enables efficient resource allocation and productivity growth. While policymakers debate zoning reforms and construction incentives, they miss the deeper transformation occurring—the emergence of "economic feudalism," where geographic location determines lifetime economic prospects more than individual capability or effort.

Labor mobility has declined steadily since the 1980s across all demographic categories, but housing costs have accelerated this trend into a systematic barrier to economic efficiency. The mechanism operates through what economists call "spatial misallocation"—high-productivity cities like New York and San Francisco have adopted strict housing restrictions that prevent workers from moving to where their labor would be most valuable.