[wodenokoto]

For housing there is usually more to the equation than just inflation vs salary.

When my parents got their first house in the 80s, I think the interest was just shy of 20%

If I buy a house today, I can literally get 0%* interest on the loan.

20% interest over 30 years means you have paid almost 6 times the value of the loan with your last payment.

So if they could afford the house at 20% interest, they can afford it at 5 times the price with near zero interest.

This has been one of the main factors for pushing house prices way faster than salary growth. The monthly payment can grow (somewhat) with salary while the sticker price on the house can grow much, much faster.

* Don't live in the US, but house prices in the EU are just as crazy as anywhere

[loosetypes]

This reads similarly to me as conversations that justify medical bills being so high in the US when there’s a closed loop between the those charging and those paying (ie, not the one receiving medical care). “You should be thankful that we saved you 99.5% of this artificially high price tag even though we’re complicit in its fantasy pricing!”

Medical service doesn’t exist for the industry on top of it. Housing doesn’t exist for the industry built on top of it. I wish our government considered the well-being of the host nearly as much as the parasites rather than asking Mr. Mosquito what he thinks would be beneficial.

[Bombthecat]

Back then you cold use your bonus payments, holiday money, Christmas money, whatever to pay the credit WAY faster.

Now, you would save two months of payments..