TFTC on Nostr: The median age of a first-time homebuyer just hit 40. In 2000, it was 31. In 2000, ...

The median age of a first-time homebuyer just hit 40. In 2000, it was 31.

In 2000, the median home cost $119,600 and the median household earned $42,148. That's a 2.8x ratio. A couple saving 10% of their income could put together a down payment in under 6 years. The monthly mortgage was $702, about 20% of income.

Today, the median home costs $416,900 and the median household earns $80,610. That's a 5.2x ratio. It now takes over 10 years to save the same down payment. The monthly mortgage is $2,219, a third of household income.

Home prices rose 249%. Incomes rose 91%.

First-time buyers now make up just 21% of the market, a historic low. Down from 40% a generation ago. The American Dream of homeownership is being priced out of reach for an entire generation, and the gap widens every year.

This is what decades of monetary expansion, artificially suppressed rates, and constrained housing supply produces. Assets inflate. Wages don't keep up. And young families pay the price.