Just using the interest rate is an unfair comparison. You have to go get median house prices and median incomes as well to make a proper comparison. Just saying the rate was higher at some point is useless if we don’t also compare the prices and incomes because what really matters is affordability. Not saying your whole comment is wrong, just trying to say that this particular part seems to be biased in favor of the Boomers.
Median home price to median household income ratio
This ratio is a key indicator of housing affordability. It measures how many years of the median household’s income are needed to purchase the median-priced home.
Period Median Household Income Median Home Price Price-to-Income Ratio
1980 ~$21,000 ~$65,000 ~3.1x
2024 ~$85,000 ~$415,000 ~4.9x
Comparison of mortgage payments
Even with the high interest rates of the 1980s, the lower home values meant a smaller overall loan and a monthly payment that took up a smaller percentage of the median household income.
Here is a side-by-side comparison of a hypothetical mortgage for a median-income household in 1980 and 2024:
Mortgage metric Early 1980s 2024
Median income $22,000 $85,000
Median house price $47,000 $415,000
20% down payment $11,000 (~50% of annual income) $83,000 (~98% of annual income)
Loan amount $36,000 $332,000
Interest rate 13% 7.5%
Monthly payment $397 $2,321
Payment as % of gross income
Just using the interest rate is an unfair comparison. You have to go get median house prices and median incomes as well to make a proper comparison. Just saying the rate was higher at some point is useless if we don’t also compare the prices and incomes because what really matters is affordability. Not saying your whole comment is wrong, just trying to say that this particular part seems to be biased in favor of the Boomers.
I’d written a big post already, and diving into all the details and nuance was too much to put in the initial post. You’re right that the interest rate alone isn’t a determining factor, but I’d also disagree that its objectively in favor of Boomers, perhaps subjectively though. Another factor to consider is that in the downpayment requirements. Today we talk about the “best practice” of putting 20% down on a home, but that’s today. The alternative of putting less-than 20% down and using PMI didn’t even exist as a concept until 1971. It grew in popularity later, but in the early days it wasn’t common. Further, with higher interest rates it meant that much lower pay down of the principal was occurring in the first few years of the mortgage because of amortization. It was the beginning of the age of moving more frequently for jobs, which meant less equity build up as each house sale cycle robbed them of that benefit of wealth, arguable the most valuable investment asset of the working class.
Median home price to median household income ratio This ratio is a key indicator of housing affordability
I appreciate you doing and sharing that analysis.
I think we both agree that its difficult to do an absolute comparison on the home buying/owning experience between the Boomer era and today’s Millennials (or GenZ) simply because so many conditions are different. We didn’t talk about Stagflation or unemployment rate in 1982 being 10.8% compared to today’s 4.3%. I pointed out the interest rate being higher because most folks approach new information as “all else being equal” conditions. The audience already knew that housing price was less in the Boomer era, additional it was known that income was higher proportionally to living expenses than today’s Millennials (or GenZ), what I doubted was common knowledge was the sky high interest rates compared to today. Thats what I was communicating.
Just using the interest rate is an unfair comparison. You have to go get median house prices and median incomes as well to make a proper comparison. Just saying the rate was higher at some point is useless if we don’t also compare the prices and incomes because what really matters is affordability. Not saying your whole comment is wrong, just trying to say that this particular part seems to be biased in favor of the Boomers.
Median home price to median household income ratio This ratio is a key indicator of housing affordability. It measures how many years of the median household’s income are needed to purchase the median-priced home. Period Median Household Income Median Home Price Price-to-Income Ratio 1980 ~$21,000 ~$65,000 ~3.1x 2024 ~$85,000 ~$415,000 ~4.9x Comparison of mortgage payments Even with the high interest rates of the 1980s, the lower home values meant a smaller overall loan and a monthly payment that took up a smaller percentage of the median household income. Here is a side-by-side comparison of a hypothetical mortgage for a median-income household in 1980 and 2024: Mortgage metric Early 1980s 2024 Median income $22,000 $85,000 Median house price $47,000 $415,000 20% down payment $11,000 (~50% of annual income) $83,000 (~98% of annual income) Loan amount $36,000 $332,000 Interest rate 13% 7.5% Monthly payment $397 $2,321 Payment as % of gross income
I’d written a big post already, and diving into all the details and nuance was too much to put in the initial post. You’re right that the interest rate alone isn’t a determining factor, but I’d also disagree that its objectively in favor of Boomers, perhaps subjectively though. Another factor to consider is that in the downpayment requirements. Today we talk about the “best practice” of putting 20% down on a home, but that’s today. The alternative of putting less-than 20% down and using PMI didn’t even exist as a concept until 1971. It grew in popularity later, but in the early days it wasn’t common. Further, with higher interest rates it meant that much lower pay down of the principal was occurring in the first few years of the mortgage because of amortization. It was the beginning of the age of moving more frequently for jobs, which meant less equity build up as each house sale cycle robbed them of that benefit of wealth, arguable the most valuable investment asset of the working class.
I appreciate you doing and sharing that analysis.
I think we both agree that its difficult to do an absolute comparison on the home buying/owning experience between the Boomer era and today’s Millennials (or GenZ) simply because so many conditions are different. We didn’t talk about Stagflation or unemployment rate in 1982 being 10.8% compared to today’s 4.3%. I pointed out the interest rate being higher because most folks approach new information as “all else being equal” conditions. The audience already knew that housing price was less in the Boomer era, additional it was known that income was higher proportionally to living expenses than today’s Millennials (or GenZ), what I doubted was common knowledge was the sky high interest rates compared to today. Thats what I was communicating.