Just a moment...

Maryland and Indiana instituted the ground rent system many decades ago to address this problem. Basically, land on which a home sits is a major cost making first home ownership difficult or impossible. Under the ground rent system, a person may own a home but pay rent to the owner of the land on which it sits. In time, the house appreciates until the homeowner has enough equity to purchase the land. The amount of the ground rent and the cost of purchasing the land are legislatively fixed. I've often wondered why other states never adopted this system.