The United States is short of more than 5 million homes, driven by increased housing demand across the country and a lack of materials and workers in the construction industry, according to new research from Realtor.com. Data released on Sept. 9 show that the United States is short of 5.24 million homes, an increase of 1.4 million from the 2019 gap of 3.84 million, as per the U.S. Census. Between 2012 and June 2021, 12.3 million American households were formed, but just 7.5 million single-family homes were started, and 7 million single-family homes were completed during this same period of time. The report noted that if household formations were to continue at the current five-year average, home completions would have to triple production in order to close the gap within five to six years. However, if household formations were to remain at the same pace while home completions increase, it would only take five to six years to …