“he took the plunge with his young bride and purchased his first and only home, for $32,000, back in 1961”
During the peak of the housing boom the price of that house probably shot up to 15 or more times that. Back in 1970 my father bought a house in Queens NY for $19,000. At one point during the peak similar houses were going for around $400,000.
I’m always amazed at ginormous housing prices in places they couldn’t pay me to live (NYC, Chicago, SF)