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re: The Medium income Amercan Family now earns 1/2 the income needed to buy the avg home.
Posted on 3/13/25 at 3:07 am to RiverCityTider
Posted on 3/13/25 at 3:07 am to RiverCityTider
I see this is another one of those “whoa is us” Zoomer bitchfest threads.
Let’s see… my first apartment in the ‘90s was a piece of shite that still had orange formica countertops and worn out carpet from the mid ‘70s. I paid $400 a month. Just checked and now it rents for $760, which is right on par with inflation.
First house was about 1100 square feet. Small and outdated as hell, a bit of a drive to work… just checked and Zillow says it’s now worth a whopping $110,000. Y’all would die of laughter if someone suggested that house to you.
Buy a home you can afford and *where* you can afford, like every other generation before you.
Let’s see… my first apartment in the ‘90s was a piece of shite that still had orange formica countertops and worn out carpet from the mid ‘70s. I paid $400 a month. Just checked and now it rents for $760, which is right on par with inflation.
First house was about 1100 square feet. Small and outdated as hell, a bit of a drive to work… just checked and Zillow says it’s now worth a whopping $110,000. Y’all would die of laughter if someone suggested that house to you.
Buy a home you can afford and *where* you can afford, like every other generation before you.
1
Posted on 3/13/25 at 4:23 am to RiverCityTider
The solution is to impose high tariffs on building supplies and also push up the cost of labor while making loans more expensive and keeping wages down. That’ll make homes affordable.
This post was edited on 3/13/25 at 4:24 am
Posted on 3/13/25 at 4:23 am to Nado Jenkins83
quote:
One day poor people will just take them
Posted on 3/13/25 at 5:35 am to GeauxBurrow312
quote:
Good for her, but unless her parents or husband are helping out her thats going to be difficult for her. Assuming she is putting 20% down, she is going to be paying around $2800 a month on that house including insurance/utilities 66k gross is about 54k take home before healthcare That math doesnt add up
I never said it was smart and I never said she was the only person in the house with a job. The OP is suggesting they can’t afford it, I’m pointing to real life examples where people are actually affording it.
Crazy concept here, but life tends to work itself out.
If nobody can afford all these things then where are people living? Big cities have always been expensive and people have always figured out what they are willing to pay for. There’s plenty of opportunity to live in affordable places if you want to commute.
Posted on 3/13/25 at 5:36 am to WinnPtiger
quote:
in 91 my parents bought a 4/2 in the suburbs for 190k. it’s currently listed at 3 million
I bought a 3/2 in 2000 for $128K. Brand new, I even got to pick the floors. It was just under 2,000 sq ft on 3/4's of an acre. It also had an unfinished bonus room over the garage which would have jumped the sq ft to more than 2,400 sq ft.
House was in SC and it wouldn't list anywhere near $3 million today.
Posted on 3/13/25 at 5:46 am to RiverCityTider
And no one will blame the federal reserve.
The minimum wage in 1964 was 5 quarters. Those quarters (90% silver) would be worth about 36 dollars today.
The minimum wage in 1964 was 5 quarters. Those quarters (90% silver) would be worth about 36 dollars today.
Posted on 3/13/25 at 6:06 am to Powerman
quote:Sublte brag but that is an outlier and you know it, if it's even true.
A 1600 ft home built in 1980 would probably run about 700 to 800K where I am. Let's not pretend there is some surplus of affordable modestly sized homes on the market.
ETA- I have been in my house almost 20 years so I have not actively kept up with housing prices lately but I just looked at new construction out in the burbs near my son's home and most are in the 1,700-1800 sq ft size and are running about $180-$195 a sq ft. Seems like that is the same for a number of years. These alledgedly are starter homes.
This post was edited on 3/13/25 at 6:18 am
Posted on 3/13/25 at 6:09 am to Powerman
quote:
A 1600 ft home built in 1980 would probably run about 700 to 800K where I am.
Sounds like you need to move.
Posted on 3/13/25 at 6:23 am to GeauxBurrow312
quote:
About 62%, before healthcare, car, groceries, retirement savings
Now that’s what house poor means, and it applies to so many more now than just 14 years ago
Posted on 3/13/25 at 6:36 am to Cuthbert13
quote:
The problem is, people are not willing to start at the bottom and work their way up.
quote:
That was in 2001.
The span of time was 26 years.
Whose going tell him?
You are just jelly and mad that he has a time machine and you do not.
Envy is one of the deadly sins.
Posted on 3/13/25 at 6:42 am to DrrTiger
quote:
First house was about 1100 square feet. Small and outdated as hell, a bit of a drive to work… just checked and Zillow says it’s now worth a whopping $110,000. Y’all would die of laughter if someone suggested that house to you.
$110k? Where do you live? You can’t find a burned down shack for $110k here nor the vast majority of the country.
Posted on 3/13/25 at 6:44 am to The Baker
quote:I'm not sure what you're saying here.
Quadruple the cost of all of that and keep your wage the same. Your situation in 1975 would have you living absolute squalor right now.
----
Here are the facts and founded analysis though:
The proverbial "Golden Age" of the US Middle Class was mid-1950's - mid-1970's. So let's take a constructive look at comparative data then vs now.
The first graph below addresses median income as a % of median home prices 1974-2024. There is a significant decline.
However, in 1974 the average home was 1560 SqFt. In 2024 the average home was 2515 SqFt. So the second graph adjusts for that difference.
What is not adjusted for in the second graph is quality of construction (natural stone countertops vs formica, tile floors vs linoleum, double paned windows, etc.). I'd very comfortably contend that given two homes, one of 1974 construction quality at $175K, the other being 2024 quality at $225, a vast majority of purchasers would choose the $225K home as a better value.
-----
But aside from home prices, in 1974, median income was $11,100/yr ($71,524.30 in today's dollars). In 2024, median income was $80,610/yr.
In 1974, median income in both the UK and France was about $8100, or 75% of US HH income. Today each is less than 50% of US median income. So performance of the US middle class has significantly outstripped that of Europeans,
Posted on 3/13/25 at 6:45 am to RiverCityTider
quote:
s 1/2 the income needed to buy the avg home.
Can you post the numbers behind that? Interested to know if the primary issue is the income or the new definition of an average home based on years of cheap and easy money/credit.
Posted on 3/13/25 at 6:48 am to Cuthbert13
quote:Someone who's not taken advantage of investment growth contingent on levered purchase of increasingly valuable tax protected real estate assets???
Whose going tell him?
Posted on 3/13/25 at 6:52 am to Night Vision
quote:
Life is hard.
It’s even harder if you are stupid. Like most Dimocrats
Posted on 3/13/25 at 6:59 am to POTUS2024
quote:
There's a guy on youtube that analyzes comments like this. He lays out the numbers. What you did in 1979 was feasible. For the majority of people now, home ownership isn't even feasible. The cost increases have not been linear and they have not been aligned with changes in income and other items making up the cost of living.
Both things are true.
1. It was feasible to buy a home 40 years ago even with terrible interest rates.
2. We did not waste half our money on daily things like coffee, eating out, cell phones, and fashion 40 years ago.
Both are equally important.
Posted on 3/13/25 at 7:01 am to DingLeeBerry
quote:1974
s 1/2 the income needed to buy the avg home.
----
Can you post the numbers behind that?
Median HH Income: $11,100
Median Home Price: $35,900 (1560 sqft)
HomePrice-to-Income: 3.2
2024
Median HH Income: $80,610
Median Home Price: $357138 (2515 sqft)
HomePrice-to-Income: 4.4
2024 HomePrice-to-Income adjusted down to 1974 home size: 2.6
This post was edited on 3/13/25 at 7:09 am
Posted on 3/13/25 at 7:03 am to SECdragonmaster
quote:
cell phones,
A lot more expensive than land lines. Also add in internet and cable.
Posted on 3/13/25 at 7:04 am to SECdragonmaster
quote:No they aren't. The contention that "for the majority of people now, home ownership isn't even feasible," is patently absurd!
For the majority of people now, home ownership isn't even feasible.
----
Both things are true.
Posted on 3/13/25 at 7:13 am to NC_Tigah
quote:
2024 HomePrice-to-Income adjusted down to 1974 home size: 2.6
As has been pointed out, this is because these homes are no longer desirable for reasons other than their square footage.
When people talk about affording homes, there is an asterisk:
Affording homes *in decent/good areas is impossible for most people.
The smaller homes comparable to 1974 housing are in less than desirable areas, to be nice.
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