[tpmoney]

An 80k house in the 80’s means inflation alone accounts for ~$300k of the current sale price of the house. If the general area has built up at all in the last 40 years, that could account for a bunch more of that cost. Absolutely some areas and places are climbing way faster than their market wages are keeping up, but I also think a lot of housing discussion compares a house 1 hour outside of the nearest big city with that same house now in the middle of that expanded big city. Location matters a lot, and what is a great location now might well have been out in the sticks 40 years ago.