Many have asked me to find an affordability index that goes back to the 1980s. They wanted to compare today’s level of affordability to that time frame. I have found some data going back to 1975 and have put together the chart below. A few observations I made after completing the graph: 🔸In the early 1980s, it was in fact less affordable to buy a home than it is today. 🔸From an affordability standpoint, the best time to buy a home was 2013. Prices hadn’t fully recovered from the GFC and mortgage rates had fallen dramatically. 🔸From an affordability standpoint, it was a sensational time to buy a home from 2009 through 2021. 🔸The extraordinary affordability levels during that decade added to the exceptional rise in home values over that time. That in turn…along with a quick and dramatic rise in mortgage rates…has led to the affordability challenges we face today. Please feel free to post your observations in the comments. DISCLAIMERS: I put the graph together FOR COMPARISON PURPOSES ONLY. Don’t get caught up in the minutiae of the methodology. The index serves as an apples-to-apples comparison over the decades. I don’t mean to be difficult but I need to set some guardrails regarding a post like this. So, for your information… 🔹This is not my index. It is one put forward by dqydj.com. 🔹I have no control over their methodology so please don’t debate that with me. Go to their website if you want further clarification of their methodology. 🔹I will not be taking special requests to add or subtract data to customize the graph. 🔹If you are not satisfied with any aspect of the data or graph, you basically have four choices: 1.) Ignore it. 2.) Do the research and work necessary to develop a graph that will better serve your needs. 3.) Pay someone to customize it to exactly what you want. (Anticipate the cost to be between $5,000 and $10,000.) 4.) Use this graph as-is for free. 😁 (my suggestion).

This is crazy!! I just had an economist tell me that home prices are too high because of NAR. His evidence? NAR was in existence when… “The US homeownership rate sat at around 45% for the entire 50 years before 1946, and then rapidly shot up as big government subsidized the hell out of suburban homeownership.” He was correct that the homeownership rate shot up soon after World War II. The main reason for that was the Veteran’s Administration in 1944 decided to reward the soldiers returning from that war with a special mortgage program we now know as the VA Loan. Many of those soldiers moved their families to the suburbs. The poster child of that movement was Levittown, NY. Regarding NAR, I’m sure they supported passage of the VA loan program from its inception…as they should have. Here is NAR’s current stance which makes me proud to support them: “Since its establishment in 1944, the VA home loan guarantee program has helped millions of veterans purchase and maintain homes. NAR believes this program is a vital homeownership tool that provides veterans with a centralized, affordable, and accessible method of purchasing homes as a benefit for their service to our nation.”

This message is for people not in the real estate industry. Based on what you see on TV, you may believe Realtors are only concerned about selling million dollar homes and making humongous commissions. In reality, they’re much more concerned about families like these: A mother of two boys who just lost her spouse in a horrible car accident last night. They didn’t have life insurance. She realizes she can no longer afford the home her and her children live in. That mom desperately needs to sell the house and get a smaller one in the same school district because she doesn’t want the kids to be further dramatized by losing their friends right after just losing their dad. The 80-year-old couple who just moved into an assisted living home. They must now sell their current house because they need the proceeds of that sale to sustain them financially throughout the rest of their years. They’re a little afraid of the move they just made and the possible challenges of the sale. A couple with an infant daughter who has special long-term medical needs. They must move closer to the hospital that specializes in the type of procedure required to heal their little one. They need to move now. TV concentrates on the glitz and glamour of the profession. In reality, Realtors serve many families through some extraordinarily difficult times. Death, divorce, sickness, job loss. The list goes on and on. Realtors don’t talk much about these families and their situations. They are a sensitive group and protect their client’s privacy. Situations like those mentioned above are taking place right now all over the country. And Realtors are helping these families. Just saying...