Why 18 Million Americans May Never Own a Home w/ Neal Bawa

The mortgage-to-rent gap just hit a level we've never seen, and it's created a permanent renter class.Neal Bawa returns to RealDealChat for a round two conversation on where the housing market is really headed in 2026. He breaks down why the gap between the median mortgage payment and median rent has never been wider, not even during the 2006 bubble, and why that gap has split the country into two permanent housing classes: an 18-million-family renter nation and 30 million homeowners locked into mortgages they can't afford to give up. Neal also shares his 12-month home price forecast, where he's placing capital in multifamily right now, why the "housing crisis" number keeps shrinking, and how AI has become central to how his company operates.Why the rent vs mortgage gap has never been this wideWhy 18 million families are now permanent rentersNeal's 12-month home price forecast, and the one market that's the exceptionWhere he's investing now in multifamily, and why he's stepped back from build-to-rentInside his company's 4-phase AI transformation, including building custom apps with no codeGuest bio:Neal Bawa is a multifamily investing expert and the founder of MultifamilyU and Grocapitus, known for a data-driven approach to market analysis and forecasting.Links:🔗 Learn more from Neal: multifamilyu.com/club🔗 Build systems for your investing business: https://realdealcrew.comWork With RealDealCrewIf you’re already closing deals but your intake, follow-up, or visibility feels inconsistent, here are two ways to go deeper:Take the Deal Intake AssessmentSee how resilient your current operation actually is.→ https://assessment.realdealcrew.comBook a Fit CallIf you want to explore what a fully system-driven deal flow looks like, let’s talk.→ https://realdealcrew.com/bookLIKE • SHARE • JOIN • REVIEWWebsiteApple PodcastsYouTubeYouTube MusicSpotifyAmazon MusicFacebookTwitterInstagram