I actually really like this point. Market forces make it difficult to sustain long periods of vastly above average standards of living.

If a place has high standard of living, competition to live there will make people willing to pay more to live there until standard of living is back to the mean.

Good Point - but double income is just part of it. The other parts are: - ZIRP and resulting housing price increases - overleverage on housing, driving up housing prices - mainstream acceptance of spending 50% of income on housing in many markets

But your point remains -- costs are out of line from our parents' generation. I cannot afford to buy my father's house even with 4x the salary he made. Salary-Housing multiples are insane and drives people to make poor work choices.