I understand, we both worked as kids and did not live at home till 25 like them. I know a kid and his girl who live in San Jose. They make $300,000 and $250,000 and spend everything. No dam house, I gave up on telling them to stop going on trips, eating out every day, it’s infuriating! I would have had $1,000,000 in the bank if me and my first wife made $500,000 by year five.
If we really wanted to talk about what the property would be worth if we were in a normal inflationary environment in real estate, well it would be worth just about $20,000!!!
Read the article not just the headline. Affordability rule of thumb is to pay 30% of income. Many New Yorkers pay 40 to 60% of their income towards rent to have a roof over their head.
Early in my varied career, I had a financial planning practice for fee. Seems no matter how much people make, they don't want to live far enough below their means to accumulate savings for investment. (When I was making $40K, I thought $100K income was IT. Wasn't.... neither was $250K. When you make that kind of money, you pay higher income tax, you live in a bit bigger house, drive a bit nicer cars, get to dine out a bit more often, maybe send your kids to private school, take a nicer vacation... but you still "don't have any money". I have a good friend who is an orthopaedic surgeon. His wife told me, "just because Gene is a doctor, people think we're rolling in money". We're not.)
Nearly everyone who works can afford to rent something. eg a single room in a crowded shared house in a bad area. The criteria is can you find something reasonable to rent paying 30% or less of your income. The article claims half of renters can not and have to pay well above 30%. I guess historically way more people could find something much better for 30% or less of their income than now. Its only going to get worse for renters while the Democrats keep the border wide open. But it is great for landlords.
It is easy to live like a miser out of choice when you can save 80%+ of your income every month because you live in your parents basement. You get to enjoy the warm feeling of your bank account growing nicely each month and year. You get a nice release of serotonin every time you open your bank statement. It is much harder to live like a miser and save when paying 80%+ of your income on rent + utility bills + food.
I must insist, the housing bubble is kinda global so it is not the loss of value of the Dollar but of all Fiat money
Over time housing does go up in line with fiat money devaluation. In the short term bubbles are formed by low interest rates and easy credit, which was kinda global. Normally the housing bubble would have a nasty pop when interest rates eventually rise, but massive immigration levels in many countries have prevented that from happening this time before the central banks signalled that they are going to start cutting again.. There is supposedly an 18 year cycle in real estate and a housing bubble pop is predicted for 2026 by some.