I hate these articles.
Please tell me more how that down payment assistance program will help you buy that $1m house you mentioned, Mr dude.
(Narrator: it doesn’t. I don’t mean to rip dpa’s cuz it’s a good idea, but there’s little way it can help people in locations with crazy housing markets. If you make a salary that qualifies, there is still no house you can afford that’s not a tear down. If you make more, you don’t qualify so you still can’t afford it.)
😡
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiegold/2023/08/08/heres-how-gen-z-can-become-homeowners/
@Beanc Give it a few months. The apartment market is beginning to soften. Housing is probably next.
https://fortune.com/2023/09/18/rental-market-softening-lardlords-offering-deals-says-redfin/
@Coctaanatis I appreciate the optimism, but the improvement required when median houses are 10-20 times median salary is….. if solved by softening.
As the author notes, the house he grew up in , accounting for inflation whatnot, would be about $250k and sold for over $1M.
It’s untenable.
@Beanc There's a mean trendline. We're currently well above it. Historically, that means prices will drop quite a bit.
Sure, but that chart proves my point (although CA specific, the issue isn’t).
The price index is the baseline.
Houses are five times more expensive than one (or two) generations up *at the baseline*
Said differently, that house that is $ 1m + in the article will *never* drop to the 258k it would be just accounting for inflation, that older generations saw the joy of.
@Beanc Older houses really aren't comperable to modern houses. Most were much smaller, lacked air-conditioning and building materials were lower grade. Fortunately, most of the really bad houses, think coldwater shotgun shacks, tiny capes, etc., are gone.
Also location makes a huge difference. As cities and suburbia have grown, so have median house prices. But in many rural areas houses are, even at today's inflated prices, relatively inexpensive.
@thedisasterautist @Beanc Prices are very high now, but if you see my earlier comment, real estate prices regress towards a mean trend line.
(And, yes, I used one for California, but it applies more broadly.)
Prices well above the trend line are a good sign not to buy as historically they tend to peak and then fall back to the line.
@Beanc @Coctaanatis: I wasn't arguing that it didn't/wasn't. I wasn't disagreeing. I was just exampling(?) of how bananas it all is.
@thedisasterautist @Coctaanatis haha no I was agreeing with you.
Anyhoo…
Buy me house?
*bats eyelashes*
@Beanc @Coctaanatis: I can't even afford an apartment, alas.
@thedisasterautist
Sorry.
It’s all crap ðŸ˜
@Coctaanatis @thedisasterautist yes. But the point we’re making is that real housing price growth is crazy.
Yes the prices are high compared to the trend.
But of the TREND is much higher than it was 20-30 years ago (and it is/ adjusted for salaries or inflation or whatnot) , then its a huge barrier for new entrants.
And yes, per FRED, ot applies broadly,