Firstly the number crunchers say that adjusted for inflation since 1950’s America an average house should cost $93.5k but they are currently around $410k. They completely ignore some important factors that make the cost way worse. If someone built a modern home by todays standards in the 50’s they wouldn’t be able to give it away.
In 1950 there were 7.3 people for every home in 2024 it’s down to 4.25 so inventory is much higher.
Homes were built to last over 100 years without major renovations, they are now projected to last only 40 to 60 and that is an extremely generous estimate. I’ve personally replaced rotten exterior trim on homes I installed the siding on less than 5 years earlier and almost all windows are framed in vinyl which only lasts 20 years when exposed to direct sun. And any flooring that’s not solid wood or tile is garbage in 10 to 15 years at best.
Before 1950 homes were built with hand tools, skip sheeted, lath and plastered, and every nail was driven by hand an average home had at least 600% more man hours.
Literally every piece of hardware, material, fixture, and appliance is extremely cheaply made and inferior to old stuff, appliances from back then still work today and can be maintained indefinitely if the parts are available. If you go into a 100 year old home and look at the door knobs, locks, hinges, heat registers, faucets they are all made of premium material compared to today the pipes were metal instead of poly vinyl chloride. A 2x6” was just that not 1.5- by 5.5- and the wood was high grade better than furniture grade today.
If these things were factored in when people compared housing prices from previous decades the numbers would be astronomical. Just the lumber would be $15 per board foot that’s equal to $125 per 2x6”.
All you need is a nice big kitchen, and living area, with a short hallway that leads to two to three small bedrooms. Bedrooms are for sleeping!!! How big of a fucking room do you need to sleep in?!?
That's the trap. If you can afford a house like that, then you can probably afford a maid to keep it clean. And then a landscaper. And a handyman. And then a pool boy. It never ends. Expensive things don't just cost more to buy, they also cost more to keep and maintain. It wasn't the gold miners who got rich from the gold rush, it was the merchants who sold them all the tools and clothing they needed.
We stayed there for 8 years IIRC. Then we sold at a handsome profit, found a house to fit our family (we had 3 bedrooms between us and our 5 kids) and had a good time. My neighbors were all rich DINKs (a few had kids) so our kids got to live inside of a gated community with an ornamental playground with the neighbor kids who they all got to know really well. We're still friends with some of the families who were also raising kids rather than investing in property. That house turned out to be a big win as well, since again we waited until the market started going down again to buy.
Now we live in a smaller house and we're thinking of selling it and building a small 2-bedroom house because the kids are growing up and getting married and leaving. My wife insists we need to build a hotel for our kids to bring their kids and for family events and I told her we'd be wasting our money.
You never need as much house as you think. It was a decent investment to be sure but it didn't make as much money for me as it could've. It was nice because we got a nice return but it was years and years compounded on itself, nothing close to what I was earning or making from my other investments, but nice.
What's sad is I bought this house out in the middle of nowhere specifically to be out in the middle of nowhere, but people keep trying to move out here. The house has almost doubled in price according to Zillow. I doubt that's real, since no one can get loans anymore. But at least on paper I've made even more money.
Houses are ridiculous. My great grandma grew up in a house that was a kitchen, a bedroom, a parlor, and a basement where you could store your root veggies. Next to the house was a "garage" that could fit a single car. My grandma grew up with a dirt floor in Missouri. She raised her kids in a two bedroom house. She had an actual living room but again, all of her chores were done outside. My dad raised his 8 kids in a house smaller than the house I own today. We packed the 7 boys in a single room, and the one girl in her own room, and we had a spare room that was used for sewing and computers. We actually had an upstairs and downstairs living room (in the basement.) That was in the 80s. They were paying 20% interest on their loan when they first got it.
It's all going to come crashing down soon, now that people know they don't need to live near the cities.