Here's how one top Fed official is thinking about the increasingly unaffordable US housing market

• Tom Barkin, president of the Richmond Fed, recently commented on housing on the "Odd Lots" podcast.
• Home prices have stayed high as the pandemic sparked a "secular change" in the way people think about housing.
• That could mean sectors other than housing will need to see slowdowns, he suggested.

The housing market is a critical part of the US economy that needs rebalancing, and the pandemic caused a shift in the way Americans think about the sector, according to Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin.