Find me a 900sq foot single family home or condo that can be purchased on the median single earner income in any major metropolitan area (NY, Boston, SF, LA). My partner and I are looking to purchase in Boston and everything within public transit / biking distance (two cars being a luxury per your post and we both work) is 600k minimum, 700-800k more typically. Anything less is something which has massive issues and is basically being sold as land for the house to be razed and re-done. Here is a Zillow screenshot with the only filter being >750sqft and <1000sqft.
https://ibb.co/4ZcGKXv
Not to mention that most things here are going 5-10% over asking with zero contingencies, throw in another few percent if you demand an inspection. My partner and I recently had a few major life changes and are now earning incredibly good money but it will stil
National real housing prices have more than doubled since the mid-60s. It’s certainly worse in many areas like here where real prices have quadrupled since the mid-80s
https://www.longtermtrends.net/home-price-vs-inflation/
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/BOXRSA
Healthcare and education prices have followed similar trends while real wages haven’t budged
https://www.kff.org/report-section/health-care-costs-a-primer-2012-conclusion/view/print/
https://educationdata.org/average-cost-of-college-by-year
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-ta...rs-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/
In my area, as is typical of so many as jsstevens indicates, NIMBYs have fought tooth and nail to build more housing. These people bought their housing 30, 40, 50 years ago when it was cheap and saw their “investment” go nowhere but up and fight/vote to make sure it stays that way. They took advantage of the post-war building and economic boom and then turn around and refuse that same opportunity to the next generations, while simultaneously slandering them as lazy, dumb, and worthless.
Your post screams how out of touch you are about how much the economic situation has changed since your idyllic childhood of the 60s