They have caught the insurance killer.

[billy rubin]

asmo, the current median house price in tbe united states is $501,000.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ASPUS

[Asmodean]

In itself, that is not a very useful number, though it just so happens to sit in the middle of my Hillbillyville, Louisiana vs. central SF example. Sure, it tells you that roughly half the properties are likely to be cheaper than that (Not really, but that's what it more or less works out as) but it says little about what you get for said amount of coinage.

I'd  recommend looking at the per square foot prices in stead. A house may not be a house, but a foot is generally what it is.

[billy rubin]

on tbe contrary, price per area varies all over the country, for msny reasons. in appalachia, a huge structure costs the same or less as as a small structure in honolulu. either can serve as a dwelling-- size is not relevant.

median prices reflect thr central tendency of what is actually paid by people looking for something to live in, and remove the variation introduced by extraneous factors.

a half-million dollars is more than anybody i know can afford.

[Asmodean]

on tbe contrary, price per area varies all over the country. in appalachia, a huge structure costs the same or less as as a small structure in honolulu.

median prices reflect thr central tendency of what is actually paid by people looking for something to live in.

a half-million dollars is more than anybody i know can afford.

Let me au-contraire your au-contraire. Half mil US is pretty much the starting price where I live. It will likely get you a apartment, not a house.* In a suitably deep, dark valley off the main road, however, you will quite literally not find anything even remotely that expensive unless it comes with like ten thousand acres of productive land and a bunch of other government strings attached. That's the point.

*The exmaple I used previously with percentages of properties available to them single nurses of average pay was based around 3MNOK, of which 2,5MNOK are a loan and .5MNOK are capital savings. Divide by roughly 11.5 for USD equivalent) So, don't have 40-50K or more in savings? Then you won't get a loan and don't get to buy anything. Did get a loan? Then you won't be able to afford a lot of those things you thought you would get before pretty much retirement. OR you could buy that apartment in Rjukan for 350KNOK. In any case...

Per area prices are a good indicator for measuring like against like structure-wise, and also work as an indicator for maintenance/condition of the property. You could compare a whole compound in Outer Nowhere to a chicken coop in Hawaii, but what would that comparison tell you? That you get far less for a buck in Hawaii? Well, duh. The per-area price would do the same.

Thing is, when you buy a house, it's a long-term investment for the majority of us regular mortals. If I took out a loan and bought me some property, I'd spend 2/3 of my netto paycheck on that loan for years and years and even more years to come, even before having paid for a single kilowatt of electricalness or for the garbage man to come and yell at me for putting chicken bones into general waste rather than organic waste. "Nobody" I know can "just-afford" a house either. That's what the friendly neighbourhood bank is for. I can't afford 500KUS now. Can I afford 1MUS over 20 years? Yeah. If prepared to make sacrifices as described, I can.

EDIT: Just because interesting, a colleague just finished building a house on the nicer end of normal, with three bedrooms and a smaller-ish rental space. That cost around 900K US. It would have been in that neighbourhood whether he built it in Outer Nowhere or precisely where he did. Give or take maybe 50-100K for the difference in price of the plot land itself. That's what an new family home like that costs in this country. Most people who build outside main population hubs, have to count on building at a loss or building down to a price, because should they sell the property later, it may go for less than half of its construction cost. I suppose it's OK when you build a house you mean to live and die in, but... Not always the case, that either. (This goes for private residences as well as other structures)

[Tank]

on tbe contrary, price per area varies all over the country, for msny reasons. in appalachia, a huge structure costs the same or less as as a small structure in honolulu. either can serve as a dwelling-- size is not relevant.

median prices reflect thr central tendency of what is actually paid by people looking for something to live in, and remove the variation introduced by extraneous factors.

a half-million dollars is more than anybody i know can afford.

When my son bought a $1m fixeruper in San Francisco I was expecting some dilapidated old but large'ish place. I just about kept the look of underwhelmwent off my face when we first visited.   

[The Magic Pudding..]

"About 73% of Australia's population lives in major cities"
"National capital city median house prices November AUD $1,163,921"
/100 x 65 = US $756,549

Sydney AUD $1,652,939
 /100 x 65 = US $1,074,410

"So new block sizes are currently around one-third to one-quarter the size of the 1950s, with most of the shrinkage occurring within the last decade."

In my lifetime our population has gone from 10.7 to 26.7 million, I think life would be easier if it hadn't.
If you're young I suggest selecting parents that will help.
 



 

[Asmodean]

If you're young I suggest selecting parents that will help.

This. And if you are a parent who wants to help them kids onto the urban housing market, you should count on them being far more expensive than you yourself had ever dreamt of being.

Heck, there are plenty of cities out there where doctors and lawyers struggle to afford real estate. Well, if you want to stay in one... Find a roommate, I guess.

One guy in my family solved this by moving out to the country, getting some fiberoptics and taking his psychology practice duigital. His cost of living is pretty low when compared to his income. This may work for some, if work is what keeps your always-broke butt urban.