Housing being unaffordable is a big one, but in my opinion the bigger aspect (which housing factors into) is long-term financial security (as in, there being li

Housing being unaffordable is a big one, but in my opinion the bigger aspect (which housing factors into) is long-term financial security (as in, there being little to no risk of financial crisis in the ~20 year timespan of raising a family) sitting just beyond reach. This incentivizes putting off having children as long as possible in attempt to achieve aforementioned security, but many never reach that point and end up never starting a family. This isn’t a factor for the very poor or very wealthy, because financial security was never a possibility for the former to begin with and the latter already have it. Everybody in between gets tied up trying to become the latter because it seems possible, even if it’s not probable.