Ultimately all great data points, but to be as accurate as possible, you'd have to separate wage by age, look up average age of a first time homebuyer and track that way. You might also want to look at average cost of a starter home specifically. Comparing averages across all the segements and population will skew numbers upwards is my guess.

Recent data suggests the average first-time buyer is 36 years old (2022 data). For reference in 1973 it was 30 years old and 32 in 2003.

Avg hourly wage for a 36 year old equals $63k/yr in Q3 of 2023. (so right above $30/hr)

sources:
LINK

LINK /

An article from July '23 suggests that the median starter home price in June was $242,000.

Assuming a 20% downpayment, someone would need to save $50k.

With a $63k salary, take home is about 48k (a little less but I'm rounding up). Take home is $4k a month.

Rent: $1,800
Groceries: $500
Water/Gas/Electric Utilities: $300
Student Loans: $300 (using national average)
Gas: $200 (assuming one tank of gas every week)
Car insurance on your beater: $100
Cell Phone: $75
Internet: $50
Renter's insurance: $30

Total expenses w no "fun" stuff. No cable, no streaming, no coffee, no dining out: $3,360. That leaves $600 a month for savings, incidentals, etc.

This does not account for childcare (average first-time parent is 27.6), doctor's visits, or any discretionary spending. This also assumes no pets. Since very few people live a life without any discretionary income, let’s assume you spend a little bit of your surplus on fun stuff so you don’t unalive yourself from depression. You have a surplus of $200/month and you pray nothing goes wrong because that’ll quickly drain what little you can save

For simplicity's sake, let's assume your spouse stays home to help save on childcare but works a part-time job bringing in an additional $400/month and you can put it all into savings - it would take you 10 years to save up for a downpayment assuming homes do not continue to increase in price.

Want to argue that your spouse should work fulltime? Okay let's do it!

Your spouse works full-time and brings in $2800/month, but now you are paying $1600/month in childcare and need a second car. So let's say you get a cheap car note at $300, another $200 in gas and another $100 in insurance, so they are clearing $600 instead of $400. Now it'll take 6.5 years to save up - again - assuming no increase in purchase price, interest rates, etc. This also assumes no other expense increases in that timeframe (

)

We aren't saying it isn't possible, it's just freaking hard for the Average Joe. Of course for most OT ballers, we can buy a new house every other year.

This post was edited on 12/21/23 at 8:06 pm