News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

A comment on Maybe Treating Housing as an Investment Was a Colossal Mistake. Parent comment

Re:Maybe Treating Housing as an Investment Was a Colossal Mi... by gwright on Monday March 06, 2023 @12:54PM (#35044672)
> It took a handful of years of renting cheap places (with roommates)

Is this now considered unusual? I didn't purchase my own home for almost 12 years after graduation from college. I lived at home, then with roommates, which was a completely normal thing to do at the time (1987 college graduation).

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Maybe Treating Housing as an Investment Was a Colossal Mi... by cool_dude85 on Monday March 06, 2023 @01:27PM (#35045323)
It's more usual than ever, but living at home or with roommates still makes it very difficult to ever afford a home. Let's take a look:

1999 median home cost: $165,000; 1999 median household annual income: $42,000; 1999 home cost / annual income: 3.9

2022 median home cost: $468,000; 2022 median household annual income: $71,000; 2022 home cost / annual income: 6.6

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Maybe Treating Housing as an Investment Was a Colossal Mi... by staringback on Monday March 06, 2023 @01:49PM (#35045717)
You can't mention home prices without the interest rate as well.

1999 interest rate: 4.74% 2022 interest rate: 0.08%

Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/187616/effective-rate-of...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Maybe Treating Housing as an Investment Was a Colossal Mi... by NDizzle on Monday March 06, 2023 @02:41PM (#35046521)
"2022 interest rate: 0.08%" that's not true for 2022 as a whole. Did you mean 2021?!
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Maybe Treating Housing as an Investment Was a Colossal Mi... by 93po on Monday March 06, 2023 @03:33PM (#35047173)
Mortgage rates were around 8% in 1999. They're about 6% now. But it's also a moot point because it doesn't make housing any more affordable when the offset is higher house prices.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Maybe Treating Housing as an Investment Was a Colossal Mi... by gwright on Monday March 06, 2023 @04:04PM (#35047563)
I wonder what the square footage of those median homes were in 1999 vs 2022.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Maybe Treating Housing as an Investment Was a Colossal Mi... by TedShiller on Monday March 06, 2023 @02:41PM (#35046526)
> Is this now considered unusual?

Yes. People want free stuff now, paid for by other people. Working is not cool anymore.

[ Parent | on HN ]