[planarhobbit]

This is why I’m wary whenever I see “top X% in the income bracket.” I think it’s misdirection, because if you can’t afford something, then you can’t afford it, regardless of how well off the statistics say you are. You can save for a down payment, and then interest rates and mortgage will obliterate you. So really, the scale for these things in terms of affordability starts somewhere beyond what you’re making - and most of the upper 20% I bet, and then extends onwards to the actual ruling/owner class.

So the metric we should use isn’t this. It’s something else.

I won’t speculate with the usual HN nonsense of armchair economists. I will say I remember Michael O’Church’s two ladder theory and I agree with it based on personal observations.