If houses were so "cheap", why is the home ownership rate higher today? Why wouldn't everybody just buy one of those "cheap" houses?

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/RHORUSQ156N

trust me, when i bought my first house in '97 the prices were 5 times lower than today. my salary was 75% of what I'm making today. so even late boomers (which I am) had their chance.

This was my thought reading the article. They had every opportunity to fail upwards. The numbers will be staggering in the future if the boomer generation is having issues now and didn’t secure a home in the $23,000 home era.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MSPUS

https://www.longtermtrends.net/home-price-median-annual-inco...

They could have secured a house at a ratio of 4 times their median annual income and now that number is 7 times.

I see this perspective a lot, and I really don't understand it. Millennials have it pretty damn good as well. And everyone wants to ignore how difficult the 80s were as far as jobs, housing, etc. Boomers got bumblefucked in the 80s. Interest rates for home loans were abysmal, small banks failed all over the place, business loans got called, etc etc.

I think the only thing gen z or millennials really have to complain about is the fact that the government hocked them risky loans for bullshit education.

maybe people will realize at some point that getting a crap degree in some "social" science isn't worth it. not even counting the leftist indoctrination that counts with it. going into a trade wins easily.

Home prices were a fraction (like, 1/10th in some cases) of what they are now in the 80s. I’d gladly take a 10% mortgage at 1/10th the price I could refinance at half that rate in the 90s.

Labor rights degraded quite a bit between boomers and millennials. Hell, it has degraded between Millennials and gen z! Our current economic model is not sustainable. It is a cancer.

How have they degraded, exactly? Be extremely specific, I want to know what rights you have lost from, lets start with the one president you want to point to as the root of all evil at 1981, to now.

yeah, because you need a lot of labour rights to make a living ... a person with skills and good work ethic will always find work, with or without "rights"

Always find work, sure, but work conditions are a big deal.

What ended child labor in (most) of the west? What gave us the weekend? What gave us paid time off? Blood. People had to sacrifice their lives. We have to actively fight for better working conditions.

not much relevant to me, and perhaps a lot of other people. I run my own business so no paid time off. Also, if needed I work weekends too - no issue.

So, boomers bad, millenials good. I don't know. Maybe the situation is a little more nuanced, and not every boomer was able to get rich.

My boomer parents couldn't dream of making the money I've made in tech. They can't even retire yet.

The thing about outliers is they don't negate general trends.