The upper middle class are stacking up BIG increases in earnings and are pushing housing prices waaaaay up...

We're looking at a younger generation that may NEVER be able to afford a home.

This is the least expensive SFH in my zip code.

$745,000

https://photos.zillowstatic.com/fp/6b6c0821232c2883b9a012ef5c36b413-uncropped_scaled_within_1536_1152.webp

but my house is newer, has an attached garage, and I think is bigger. I got it for just under 200k

and is 2 years old. Honestly that price is nuts.

It's always been expensive here but has exploded in the last 5-10 years.

McDonalds workers make $20/hr...

And anyone with job experience or a decent Degree are making big bucks...

I retired pretty much in 2021 and my exact position now pays about 100k more than when I retired.

I am about an hour out of Raleigh and a half hour out of Greeneville NC (college town). Part of me would like to afford to live in the likes of LA but I know I can't as a teacher. I can afford my place and the town, so far, is good so I am happy. 5.5 % mortgage will refinance if rates move down but for now will hold tight.

I grew up in the Midwest... literally in an agricultural town, red brick schools and tornado sirens on phone poles.

Played "Army" in the corn fields.

Mom bought me an inflatable raft at age 10 which I took out on the local lake daily.

Proudly told my mother I wanted to be a mountain man when I grew up...

Played inside an old Washing Machine box that I had used paint to make look like a space ship and watched the moon landings on TV...

And then Mom moved to Southern California and I've been here or Scottsdale AZ ever since...

Still have a soft spot for more rural spots and places with actual seasons.

Thanks for sharing.

Wall Street has purchased hundreds of thousands of single-family homes since the Great Recession. Here’s what that means for rental prices

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/21/how-wall-street-bought-single-family-homes-and-put-them-up-for-rent.html

We paid off our house in the 00's... best thing we've ever done.

Can NOT imagine being a first time home buyer. Or even renter...

House at 7.5% interest is fine and actually pretty normal historically. Then when interest rates go down you can refinance.

That interest rate on a car loan is not great and I would wait to huh until it goes down.

3.9% interest rate.

I have very good credit and always pay my credit card bill in full monthly, but still.

Decent interest rates can be had.

The lender can't even borrow from the Fed at that rate.

For rates to have climbed back from the mid 6% range.

Its all hocus pocus nonsense. They have been told over, and over, and over and over, they have destroyed the entire real estate market in this country with first holding them that low for that long and then turning around and raising them that fast. Mortgage interest rates had nada to do with "inflation" which is nothing more than wealthy corporations continuing to raise prices on consumer goods for no economic reason. All the low rates did was allow a small percentage of people(and already wealthy investors) to buy a home at an artificially low rate and now they are at an economic advantage over everyone else likely for the rest of their lives.

Reagan went on to win a second term and in 1985 the avg rate was 12.96

I think interest rates hurt some candidates a lot more thana others.

I was an E-3 in the Navy at the time. The price was $45,000 and I put $20,000 down for a two story home on 57 acres of land .

broke down the mortgage payment for prospective buyers in the flyer given out. It was 9,000 dollars a month after putting 20% down! Whoa. Really puts it in perspective.