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vjvjvjvjghv parent
One important data point is that houses have become much more expensive compared to income in the last decades. When I lived in CA, my plumber neighbor told me he bought his house in the 70s for 80000 on a salary of 40000. Today he would probably pay 800000 for the same house but make maybe 100000 or a little more.

It's definitely harder to buy a house these days.

SideQuark
Houses today are vastly larger. Cost/sq ft in all but the few most expensive places has been nearly constant under inflation adjusted price for an incredibly long time. A huge majority of the population lives in such places.

Here's a size list that is commonly shared https://www.newser.com/story/225645/average-size-of-us-homes...

When you figure in # of people in such houses, the avg person has vastly more space https://www.reddit.com/r/REBubble/comments/14hayqq/average_h...

bluefirebrand
New builds may be larger today but the vast majority of real estate on the market are not new builds

I bought my house in 2018. It was built in 1997

It is not vastly larger than it was in 1997, but I still paid 2018 prices for it

Most people aren't buying new builds

SideQuark
Prices change due to inflation among other things, which is over 50 % from that time period. And given that the median house age (not median age of sold house!) is 40 years, you did buy a much newer house than the majority of people have.

A few years back, median age of sold house was 27 years. So by that metric you bought even a newer house than the majority of house sales.

Your 1997 house is almost certainly much larger than the median 1950 house.

And, your single data point in no way invalidates aggregate statistics.

selectodude
$40,000 in 1975 is over a quarter million 2025 dollars.
Telemakhos
You can't buy on the west coast for a quarter million. A house big enough to start a family will likely start at a half million, and in some communities will come with hefty tax burdens.
red-iron-pine
in 2025 anything vaguely desirable in a coastal-ish city is starting at more like 600-700k. actual decent houses will be 1MM or more.

the folks in those areas, if you owned a house for the last 20 years, are now richer than ever due to that property appreciating. but the younger generation is absolutely screwed

jen20
> if you owned a house for the last 20 years, are now richer than ever due to that property appreciating.

Only if you sell it, and move somewhere with a much lower cost of housing.

fragmede
If there is a spare bedroom in your HCOL location, renting that out lets you get some incoming cash flow without having to move away to a LCOL location.
jen20
You don't get "rich" from renting out a spare bedroom.
aianus
HELOC and never pay it off until you die
kevin_thibedeau
The north coast has cheap housing.
selectodude
Sure, but you can certainly afford a house on the West Coast with an income of $250k.
dylan604
the higher prices are affected by the corporate buying of single family homes. for every home a corp buys, that's one less for individuals to buy. if the number of buyers remains the same but fewer homes are available, prices go up--seller's market. yes, prices go up adjusted for..., but inventory more competitively sought. the other issue is that the average buyer is looking to buy with financing while corps are paying cash. that makes for such a smoother transition for the seller that it is hard for them to turn down cash offers.

after corps, we have foreign buyers also coming in with cash offers. i know of one specific house that is empty for the majority of the year purchased by foreign owners specifically for their kid to live while attending college. the kid chose to not go to that school, so the house sits empty except for when some property manager comes by to "check in" on the place.

so while this thread is discussing still showing decent ownership percentages, those numbers are glossing over some of the "trends" in modern real estate.

exoverito
It's overwhelmingly due to monetary policy which has inflated assets and depreciated real wages for decades.

https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/

Restrictive zoning laws preventing construction in coastal cities is also a major factor. The cities which see the greatest declines in rents have the greatest increases in supply.

https://www.nmhc.org/contentassets/f9a5ef47d06143e6b8355cfad...

shlant
> affected by the corporate buying of single family homes

> after corps, we have foreign buyers also coming in with cash offers

As someone mentioned earlier in the thread, these are memes that are not actually backed by data - commonly perpetuated by groups that blame most issues on billionaires/corporations/investment firms.

dylan604
So you're insinuating that the specific example of a house sitting empty owned by a foreign buyer is made up?

In my neighborhood specifically, there are homes being bought not by single families but specifically buy management companies so they can then rent the property. To deny this happens is just as much of a stick your head in the sand meme as what you are accusing me of.

whatshisface
Management companies will only buy a house if they think they can profit on it, and the price of the house is a cost for them too. This links the affordability of both types of housing: low rents can't support expensive real estate, and vice versa. The rental payments have to pay for the management company's mortgage.
bpt3
No one is denying that it ever happens. It happens in so few numbers that it has no impact on the overall real estate market.

That's why your anecdote is meaningless and can be dismissed immediately.

orangecat
So you're insinuating that the specific example of a house sitting empty owned by a foreign buyer is made up?

I'm sure that happens occasionally. It's not nearly as significant as exclusionary zoning and other bad policies that prevent housing from being built.

In my neighborhood specifically, there are homes being bought not by single families but specifically buy management companies so they can then rent the property

Even in that case, the homes are still on the market.

aerostable_slug
They're saying it's overemphasized, which is why we don't rely on anecdata.
shlant
bring the data to back your claims or be ignored like you are ignoring all the responses to you
technotony
Interest rates have fallen dramatically over this period, which increases the ratio that is affordable.
vjvjvjvjghv OP
High interest with low price has the advantage that you can decide to pay more into the principal, reduce the interest you are paying and so reduce the total amount you are paying. You can’t do that with high price and low interest.
sokoloff
Yes and: You can also refinance later if rates fall.
bluGill
At 18% interest which happened in the 70s your yearly payments would have been 14468.02 or 36% of your income. A couple years ago you could get 3% rates and so your payment on that house would be 40473.98 or 40% of your income, not much difference (and likely the house is larger). At todays 6% interest the payment is 57556.85 or 57% of your income and so not affordable, but this is a very recent thing.
typewithrhythm
This is both ignoring inflation, and the potential to shorten the duration of the loan.
bluGill
Inflation is a factor in a few years but never today. Now inithe 1970s high inflation meant that a house you can barely afford becomes a small part of the budget in a couple years while the small inflation of today means a house you can barely afford today is still a big part of the budget in 5 years - but that is not a consideration of today.
typewithrhythm
It absolutely is a massive factor; because people plan a few years ahead. Consider how much it changes what you can afford if you save one year worth of payments in each case.

There is also less need to get the maximum possible loan if house prices are lower as a ratio to income.

parineum
A good, experienced plumber would make a lot more than that in CA.
vjvjvjvjghv OP
These are the numbers my neighbor gave me. No idea how accurate they are. I think it’s well known that the average house price to income ratio has gone up a lot in the last decades.
dr-smooth
Sorry, there's no way a plumber in the 70s made 40K.

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