The Median Annual Pay During The Great Depression Was 32%+ Of The Cost Of An Average Home.

[MayReasonRule]

[MayReasonRule]

1. The average yearly salary in the US is $65,470, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.Dec 3, 2024

It's even worse than the statistic presented within the image.

According to Zillow:

The average United States home value is $357,138, up 2.6% over the past year and goes to pending in around 33 days.

Speaks volumes.

[bucolic_frolic]

2. Today's homes are about 10x larger, we need more affordable housing

Visit some Depression era neighborhoods. LR, DR kitchen, 2 small BR, bath, all small. Often an upstairs loft with a dormer out front. Small porch perhaps.

[ScratchCat]

3. Here is North Florida

The median household income won't afford the median priced home.

Much of this has to do with the lack of building between 2008 and 2013 where something like 15% of the homes that should have been built actually were. This has caused an artificial shortage across the country. The other issue is an influx of people to this area.

However, its not all supply and demand. Most builders and real estate agents are, at minimum, "scruples compromised", if not out right crooked. Builders doubled their required profit and real estate agents began marketing almost exclusively to people outside the area who had more money than locals. Building costs never came back down after the "supply chain" issues worked themselves out(surprise, surprise!) and prices never came back down after the "Great Bidding War of 2022". People who have 2.5%-3% mortgages are not going to sell their homes, which just adds to a "shortage" of available homes. The only thing keeping prices up is the combination of a small number of homes being offered for sale at any given time coupled with a relatively small pool of buyers. However, if prices were lowered across the board back to pre-pandemic levels, we'd have a vibrant market. Its ludicrous. Housing has essentially been "stolen" from working people and working families and reserved for those with two paychecks or a house hold income of at least $100K.

[Wounded Bear]

4. Housing has become a commodity taken over by speculators...

and hedge fund managers. The old American Dream of owning your own home is fast achieving mythological status.

[Unwind Your Mind]

5. Here's another one

Our income is right about median in our high cost area

However we could never afford to buy the house we’ve owned for 30 years. It’s worth about 4 times what we paid. That’s a modest tract house built in 1974. And, the maintenance costs are significant.

I see a few young families coming in to the neighborhood but it’s usually through some combination of creative financing, help from parents and buying the worst neglected house.

If we want our kids to stay close, we have to help them and not everyone can