How the Housing Market Split in Two New and existing homeowners live in different worlds In a recent Economist-YouGov poll, a whopping 78 percent of respondents said that it’s difficult to find affordable homes in their community. But while Americans almost universally understand that housing affordability is a problem, it isn’t a problem that they universally experience. The national housing market in recent years has become increasingly bifurcated. New homeowners are now burdened with some of.