Avesta Housing President & CEO Rebecca Hatfield recently served as a panelist on “Transition to the Post-Pandemic Economy,” an event hosted by The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston that provided a forum for New Englanders to voice their top economic priorities and concerns to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors and regional Fed officials. One topic that came up repeatedly, and with urgency, was housing.

“How has housing changed since the pandemic? I would say, how hasn’t it changed?” Rebecca said. “The landscape is completely different since the pandemic… between 2020 and 2022, we’ve seen an increase of 90% in applications for housing. That alone should tell you how much the housing market has changed.”

“The level of desperation is much higher than it used to be, and it’s affecting more people than we have ever seen in the past,” she said.

The event was part of “FedListens,” an ongoing series led by the Board of Governors to hear about the everyday impacts of monetary policy. Click here to a video of the event. (Rebecca’s panel begins around the 45-minute mark.)