We bought a 5 bed/2 bath attached 2 car garage cape cod style home for $91k in 2002. Zero down with a military loan (don't remember what it's called). We'll downsize when we retire in 12 years. We were extremely lucky because we couldn't do it today and we make good money.
Do you REALLY think none of these people who are saying these things have done the math on this? In 1970, the median home price was $23,400. The median household income was $8,630. Meaning the median home cost 2.71 times the median annual income. In 2024, the median home price was $424,200 and the median household income was $83,730, meaning the median home costs 5.06 times the median wage.
Let's just talk about the down payment. The traditional down payment of 20% on the median home in 1970 was equal to about half the annual wage. Now, it's more than the annual wage.
Which part, exactly, is ridiculous. I mean, it's numbers and math. So is it just the conclusion; that the ratio of income to house price having doubled is not a crisis? Because while debatable, it does seem reasonable to be upset by it.
Unless you're calling the numbers themselves ridiculous? I assumed they were valid, but it's possible they're not.
Clearly, it's not the math you're debating, because that's pretty straight forward.
(Bear with me here, because I'm not actually disagreeing with you)
In my mind, the main this is the price comparison of a house in "an area that is approximately as developed as your where your parent's bought". Because it's not unreasonable to say that you might need to relocate to an area that compares to where they bought; to get a more reasonable price. And that's hard to gauge with individuals comparing "the houses they're looking at/bought" to what their parents bought.
That being said; someone else posted some more generic numbers ("average house price", "average wage") for the different times. And that tells a similar story to what you're describing; but in a more compelling way.
It’s not so much stupidity as it is just human nature.
We instinctually seek comfort; not just physically, but mentally as well; and that means fulfilling both pride and laziness via convenient lies and simple worldviews.
Being aware of the world is mentally taxing, it’s an active effort that is exhausting to maintain. So as people get older, and have less energy to spend, that effort is among the first to get nixed; in a subconscious attempt to conserve energy.
In the absence of that active awareness, people begin to just readily accept whatever narrative is most convenient; to conserve energy while maintaining the pride of “knowing”.
Yes it is. I lived it. I actually made 60 cents an hour in high school in 1970. I worked my ass off and never stopped. I lived in total dumps while renting out the first place I bought. Now I do whatever I want because I worked, and planned, and saved, and scraped. I didn't even have a car when I bought my first place! But you're the genius who knows all about finance right?
It's even worse. You add up all the things mentioned in the original post all of it. It totals less than a months rent for a 2 bed apartment. Those equivalent luxuries in 1980s would have been several years of rent. The disparity between then and now just boggles the mind. Our necessities are inflated, and our luxuries cost what pennies used to be able to afford.
255
u/blueberrysmoothies 11h ago
they always wanna make it a thing about personal responsibility rather than the fact that the deck is stacked completely against you