Federal land sales would offer limited housing relief

“(The housing shortfall) has built up over more than a decade and continues to push home prices out of reach for many Americans,” Realtor.com chief economist Danielle Hale said in a statement. “Opening up federal land for housing development may generate incremental supply in parts of the West, but it’s not a silver bullet.

“The most severe shortages exist in places like the Northeast, where developable federal land is virtually nonexistent. As a result, we’ve also got to make better use of the land we already have. That will require meaningful changes to zoning and land use policies to alleviate the housing affordability crisis, especially in high-demand markets.”

Density and location are keys

Roughly 640 million acres — or nearly one-quarter of all land in…