Do you realize you literally just proved my point?

So if inflation adjusted wages have increased by approximately 2*, and the home size has increased by approximately 2.5*, an average home should cost 5* more after adjusting for inflation.

Going all the way back to 1950 makes the interest rate argument approximately moot since it was really the last time rates have been this low.

None of this changes, while the average NEW home runs $315,000...there is often more than enough available (in non insane markets...which will always exist) that are 50+% cheaper than that.

While I understand the down payment argument, there are federally backed loans available where you really only need a couple percent of the purchase price (potentially $2-3k on a cheap home).

For those using the bag of apples argument, the AVERAGE bag of apples has likely increased in size as stores like Costco and Sam's Club become more popular. That doesn't mean there aren't still normal, small size bags of apples available elsewhere that don't break the bank.

Start looking up 1200-1400 square foot homes, you will be very surprised how much massively cheaper they are than all of the large homes on the market (especially the brand new ones).

Tiny homes (and the revolution starting) literally proves this. You can buy a cheap chunk of land, and be ALL in on a house for a very small amount of money.

The fact that a lot of builders are making giant houses (as it is what the market is asking for) does NOT mean the affordable house is just no longer a thing.

It's not ignoring the charts. You posted a plethora of charts that COMPLETELY ignore many of the causes of increasing costs of houses. None of them are factoring in differing interest rates, none of them are factoring in changing home sizes.

My argument isn't that the average house price hasn't increased faster than inflation. The average house has increased faster than inflation. The average house has also gained a substantial amount of size. The average house also has a substantially lower interest rate now than it did over much of the past 50 years. For what you are getting with the average house, it is only logical that it has increased at the pace that it has.

You explain to me how Tiny Homes are a thing, and how you can be all in on a house for $20-$25k, and then explain to me how the smaller houses literally don't exist and aren't available now.

That will just be my new response to every single person saying cheap homes just aren't a thing anymore.

Tiny Homes.

Not agreeing with you = not an honest debater

Not agreeing with me = perfectly fine

Land can (and does) vote. It's literally how our system is (and always has been) designed.

By giving even the smallest states at least 3 electoral votes, you are literally creating a system where even the least populated states (areas of land) still receive a sufficient representation in the presidential election.

With interest rates staying constant over say the last 3-4 years, my own house absolutely has increased faster than inflation over this time period (even excluding the remodel I have worked on in the basement).

Go back over a longer term, however, and you will find a house that was $101k in 1994. Utilizing interest rates of 8.5%, you would have payments of $621 (assuming 20% down).

Multiply this by inflation to 2016, when I purchased the house (which has also had an entire remodel done prior to purchase, brand new deck, new roof, new siding, new wood floors, 2 new bathrooms,and a ludicrous amount of yard work, a new sprinkler system), and the payment should be $1,006, not even factoring that it is now a MUCH nicer house than it was in 1994 after last being sold (they actually gave me pictures of when they first bought it).

So what are my payments after a 20% down payment and a 30 year mortgage?

$815

I get it. This is ONE house, and isn't indicative of an entire market. But the numbers don't lie. Price/sq ft really hasn't been changing (and add in the historically low interest rates).

Are there areas that massively toss this argument out? Sure, go look at silicon valley. Or an article I read the other day showing one of the states out east had prices rise by something like 30% last year alone. That certainly might be a thing that some REGIONAL areas need to work on.

Across the entire US though? No, home prices really aren't a problem.

What percentage of people in poverty are shopping for new houses? Rental rates are much more relevant to this discussion, and rents have been rising more quickly than wages in the vast majority of urban areas. This isn't just a problem in California, it is a problem in pretty much every city...

And rent has been steadily increasing for decades:

This has led to more people in cost-burdened situations, where rent prices are more than what is considered affordable based on income:

20 is just a standard I go with. You can get FHA loans for I believe 3%

Good call. I'll look up to see if there are any near me!

Wow! You've saved me! There is one result and its ONLY $2000 a month for 330 sq ft! What a steal :O