“They need to be able to buy a home”
To buy a house now selling at $440,000 at $350,000 and then see the market value dropping by $20,000 a year to $330,000, $310,000, $290,000, $270,000, etc. is simply buying trouble and misery.
My first house in 2000 was 44 thousand. 1/2 acre on the river in a resort town. The city condemned it for a park and now houses in that neighborhood are in the multi million range. My house in Sandpoint Idaho was 65k 15 years ago. Nothing there is under 500k now. Wages have not increased one bit.