This is absolute BS.. Fact is Cost of a house relative to household income is actually LOWER in most parts of the country today than it was 40 years ago!
Secondly, you don't BUY A HOUSE if you have no MONEY!... If you are just starting out you find a cheap apartment like your parents or grandparents did, and you live there and sock away your money until you have CASH to put down a downpayment on a house. Will you have to live a neighborhood lower than what you would probably like to? YES.. but guess what.. YOU DON'T START OUT WHERE YOUR PARENTS ARE TODAY! Every kid wants to achieve their parents standard of living at 22 years old... ignoring the fact that it took their parents 35 years of hard work to get where they are!
Last thing in the world you should be doing is getting into a house with zero equity! That has future foreclosure written all over it!
Regional housing bubbles are ready to pop.
Factually incorrect. Median income in 1965 (in 1965 dollars) was just about $7000 a year. An average three bedroom home in the same time period sold for about $7000 to $15,000 in good neighborhoods.
In other words, the average home cost one to two years annual salary.
Median income today is $51,000 dollars. Average home price is $170,000 to $250,000 dollars in good neighborhoods. In other words, the average home today costs the equivalent of three and a half to five years' salary!
The only reason more people own homes today then back in 1965 is that credit is easier to obtain today, and both spouses work, but our real standard of living (hours we have to work to buy things) is actually going down in many areas. We just don't realize it because it's so easy to put it on the card and finance it over time.
I live over 90 minutes away from DC in rural Fauquier County. Even small apartments out here are $1000 a month and 2 level, 3 bedroom townhouses are $250,000.
It's tough going in this area. The choices are either go into debt big for a small starter home or commute for 2 hours each way.