> You can buy a home that is a 30m commute by train or bus to NYC for <= $400k.
Even a door to door commute from Secaucus, NJ station, one stop from Midtown is 20min+. I would say 60min is at least the commute you would need for housing at $400k.
Exactly, that's the problem. There exist people who did not buy houses 10 years ago, due to personal failings such as being teenagers at the time. Yet the houses continued to appreciate much faster than inflation and are now out of reach.
> Buying a house in the place they feel they deserve to live is. You can buy a home that is a 30m commute by train or bus to NYC for <= $400k.
A: You absolutely cannot.
B: Why don't they deserve it? Why should would-be buyers be forced out of every major city and even the surrounding areas, due to artificial price increases, when that was never the case for previous generations?
It's not about deserving it... it's basic supply and demand. If the house is desirable, people will bid up the price. People with more money than young adults (older adults with more career experience) can afford to pay more and so will bid up the price on the most attractive housing until they get it.
I gave up air conditioning (among other things) for a few years to help save money for a down payment on my first house. What makes a person who didn't sacrifice/safe more deserving of the house than I (who can afford to pay more)?
A famous person once said "there are a million things in this universe you can have and there are a million things you can't have".
We all can't live in high rise penthouses and lakefront mansions. The whole point of markets and pricing/discovery is to decide who gets what. There's not enough for everyone.
https://www.zillow.com/harrison-nj/
PATH train, 22m to WTC.
Not a bad area either, just not where the whiners who think they deserve prime Brooklyn dream apartment want to live.
Guess what, the small and lower cost place you bought 10 years ago went up in price too. So you have equity and you've been in the rising market.
> The fact is, in many areas, buying any house at all is not feasible for the vast majority of young adults.
100% untrue. Buying a house in the place they feel they deserve to live is. You can buy a home that is a 30m commute by train or bus to NYC for <= $400k.