Even though memes aren't really an inherently trustworthy source of news, it is a pretty good way to get an idea of what people are thinking. Some that have long bothered me are those mocking the fact that people like my grandparents were able to buy a house on a blue-collar, one-income salary, and today, both adults work and they can't afford jack.
Now, there's a lot that needs to be unpacked in this, but I think we need to start by understanding that the concerns are real. Buying a house has gotten stupid lately, and only part of that is inflation. Just telling people that there's no problem, that they need to work harder, isn't going to solve anything. Yes, people should probably be better about their money if they want to own a home, but that's only part of the issue.
Someone is going to offer to solve this problem, and let's be real here. If it's the Democrats, then the best we can hope for is an eventual replay of the housing bubble bursting in 2008.
That means we should probably start talking with younger Americans about this now.
One big issue is that wages haven't kept pace with house prices. Adjusted for inflation, the median income in 1967 was $51,570, compared to $74,755 in 2023. Meanwhile, the median house price, adjusted for inflation again, went from $199,335 in 1967 to $408,334. So we've got a just over 44 percent rise in income, but a 104 percent rise in the median cost of a house.
So it's not a matter of not working hard enough; it's a matter of house prices outpacing the rise in incomes.
There are factors for this, of course. For example, the average square footage of a house right after World War II, when we had a massive building boom, was about 983 square feet. It's been above 2,000 square feet since before the Millennium.
That's a little more than the square footage of two tiny houses, and this was the house people bought to raise a family in.
Still, there aren't many of those small, post-World War II houses on the market, at least in my neck of the woods. When you can find them, they're actually not priced terribly, but only if you ignore the neighborhood and sleep with an AR-15 in the bed. Other than that, they're lovely.
We need to understand, though, that when people say they can't afford a house, they mean that they can't afford a decent house, and based on the data, they really can't. Yes, houses are bigger today than they were--more than twice what they were post-war--but that's the market younger Americans are thrust into.
The question needs to be what we can do about it.
To do this, we have to look at the reasons housing is so much more expensive. Yes, it's a supply issue for one thing--contractors aren't building houses all that much--but why?
The answer is the left's favorite thing: government regulation.
At least in part.
Zoning artificially inhibits who can build where, which means lower-cost property may not be available for residential buildings. That pushes new construction toward more expensive parcels.
Then we've got other regulations that add onto the cost of new construction. From who can do what to what kind of material can be used, every new rule creates new burdens for contractors and developers, which drives up the costs of doing business.
We also have supply chain issues, admittedly some of which are exacerbated by tariffs, that keep key building materials from coming into the United States like they should. While we have plenty of trees still, the truth is that building a house requires more than 2x4s. Electrical wire, insulation, drywall, sheathing, siding, and a host of other products are required, and those often come from overseas or require materials from overseas.
That's far from all of it, to be sure, but couple that with corporations buying up properties as soon as they hit the market and a lot more Millennials than us Gen Xers, and you've got a recipe for disaster, and the only solution isn't government mandates or interventions, it's unbridling the free market and letting it run.
More houses need to be built, then the Law of Supply and Demand will take on the rest.
But that doesn't come with government power, which is why the left will never let it happen if they have a say. So, make them say no as much as possible, and then tell the younger generations who is responsible for them not being able to fulfill the American Dream, because it sure ain't us.