The U.S. housing market saw a record-breaking year in 2021, and 2022 will likely look very similar.

Homes prices soared across the country as sellers tried to cash in on the demand from potential buyers.

Tenants also saw their rent increase due to inflation.

Experts say those trends are expected to continue in 2022.

Finding the perfect home to purchase can be stressful, but couple that with a booming housing market and the search intensifies even more.

"We wanted to get a house badly and there were some tough points trying to find it," said Chad Sankow, a recent home buyer in Connecticut.

He and his wife, Charisse, finally found a home they loved after six months of searching. The couple said it was a nerve-racking process at times.

"Homes we were looking at sold for almost half the price the last time they sold," Charisse said. "We were worried that if the prices were going to keep rising, if we waited any longer, would we be able to afford in the future?”

According to online real estate marketplace Zillow, 2021 was one of the hottest markets in U.S. history.

"We did feel kind of a sense of urgency or else maybe we wouldn't be able to secure a home that fit our needs," Charisse said.

Experts say while 2022 won't be quite as hot as 2021, house prices will continue their upward trend, but more so due to supply constraints.

"We still have supply chain, inflationary type costs pushing new construction pricing up,” said Kevin Riordan, a real estate expert and clinical specialist of accounting and finance with Montclair State University.

Zillow's economic research team predicts an 11% home value growth in 2022.

Riordan said the demand for housing plus inflation also led to higher rental costs in 2021. He said that could continue in the new year as well.

"As housing prices increase, people's ability to buy that house diminishes because you need certain income levels and down payment requirements so that forces a cohort of people back into the rental market," Riordan said.

So, when will prices start dropping again? That depends on supply.

"If there's more supply, there could be more downward pressure on pricing that way," Riordan said.

That's especially true in the rental market.

"We need some type of supply jolt, through some kind of public-private partnership, affordability solutions," Riordan said.

If you're looking to buy, it still may be tough.

"You can use some affordable mortgage vehicles like FHA and so forth, which have low down payment requirements. Then, the issue will become the housing price itself. Can you find that right entry point?" Riordan said.

However, pay close attention to listings in your area and the time of year.

"There are less homes available during this time period, say October through February," Riordan said.

If you're putting your search on pause, Riordan suggests looking at multifamily homes as another option to consider.

"Then you can live in the house possibly and rent part of it also, so it helps subsidize the cost that's required for you to own it," he said.

Whichever route you decide, Chad and Charisse are encouraging those interested in buying to partner with a real estate agent who's familiar with the area.

They're also reminding prospective buyers not to give up.

"If that one doesn't work out, it wasn't meant to be but your home, but we'll find one," Charisse said.

DENVER, Co. — While a spotlight has been shown on the affordable housing supply crisis, experts say how we got here has been a decades-long journey.

"There simply aren’t enough homes for anyone who wants to buy them," said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin.

Supply and demand are causing home prices to skyrocket this year. The average home price is up 13.2%. That’s already a record, but in other spots around the country, it’s worse. The average home price for Phoenix rose 23.5%, Salt Lake City and Denver rose around 20%.

"We got into this mess, partly because in the last decade there were fewer homes built, but in any decade, going back to the 1960s and even before then, we were falling behind on building entry-level homes. Back in the 1980s, about 40% of new construction homes were entry-level. And now, that's down in just single digits," said Fairweather.

A few factors have gone into the lack of entry-level homes, one of them being that construction slowed down to a halt during the great recession, which impacted supply, and now entry-level homes are not being built, because demand has driven up the price of land.

"If a developer wants to buy a piece of land, they want to put the most luxurious building on it so they can recoup the expense of just acquiring that land," she said.

Another factor is zoning laws. Many neighborhoods in cities across America, where land is pricey, are zoned for single-family homes. The power to change that lies on the hyper-local level, but that has proven to be a contentious issue.

"It's very easy for a group of homeowners to rally together, to get a multifamily zoning block. They can show at the town hall meetings and they have vested interest in keeping their property values high. Even if that goes against the community interest and keeping housing affordable. So it's a very hard problem," said Fairweather.

Jonathan Cappelli is an affordable housing advocate in Colorado. He says 37% of all single-family homes in the state are rentals, not owned by the families living in them.

"We're seeing that trend just increase," he said.

Like Fairweather, he agrees that one solution would be to change zoning laws to add more apartments and condos that families looking to buy their first home can afford.

"Density is really synonymous with equity right now," said Cappelli. "If you're against making room for low to moderate income people in your community, then you're kind of taking the ladder that you climb to get to where you are and you're kicking it out for the next year."

He says the best solution is for policies to become more affordable and equitable and that communities need to recognize and embrace that.

With homeownership tied to wealth building, experts and advocates alike say that while it wasn’t our decision to end up in a low housing supply, it’s up to local government and citizens to help fix it.