The median US house is now 4.9x median income, vs 3.5x in 1975

Re:The median US house is now 4.9x median income, vs 3.5x in... by lssndrdn on Friday February 05, 2010 @12:03PM (#1104012)

Accoring to this article, the income/home price ratio has gone

  1950 -> 2.21

  1960 -> 2.11

  1975 -> 3.15

  2008 -> 4.40

With housing bubble and all, it seems that this is part of a long-term trend. Choosing 1975 as the hypothetical standard of where the ratio might return seems completely arbitrary.

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Re:The median US house is now 4.9x median income, vs 3.5x in... by jcromartie on Friday February 05, 2010 @12:06PM (#1104027)

> Choosing 1975 as the hypothetical standard of where the ratio might return seems completely arbitrary.

My guess is that it's based on the notion that wages (for the average person, not for the rich) have been stagnant since about that time.

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Re:The median US house is now 4.9x median income, vs 3.5x in... by ubernostrum on Friday February 05, 2010 @02:19PM (#1104514)

Anecdotally, the standard advice I've always heard is that you should look for a house priced at around 3x your annual salary, and that you should be able to make a 20% down payment. If it's not possible to find a reasonable house which fits that, then there's a problem somewhere.

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