In today's big story, we're looking at how much Americans spend on rent and why cheap properties are so hard to come by. And now a new Harvard study demonstrates how costly the rental market has become, Business Insider's Pete Syme writes. Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies estimated 12.1 million American households spend more than half their income on rent and utilities. That number grows to 22.4 million households for those spending more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities. Meanwhile, experts predict the housing market will reverse course this year as housing inventory increases and mortgage rates fall.

---

Persons: —, Tom Williams, Pete Syme, BI's Eliza Relman, Juliana Kaplan, There's, that's, Angela Ostafichuk, Justin Sullivan, Mario Tama, Tesla, Elon Musk, Dan DeFrancesco, Hallam Bullock, Jordan Parker Erb Organizations: Service, Business, Getty, Harvard, for Housing Studies, BI, Apple, Alaska Airlines, Boeing, American Express, Hyundai, Brands, Dolce, Gabbana Locations: Capitol, Washington, That'll, New York, London