The good old days really were

From Curbed:

How the housing market has become harder since 1988

Millennials facing today’s difficult housing market, and the challenges of buying their first home, can wistfully imagine the ’50s and dream of a time when government policy and growth made buying a home easier for much of the population. But, as a new comparison between today’s market in the late ’80s suggests, they don’t need to look quite that far back to find a more promising housing market.

The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies’ annual State of the Nation’s Housing report has provided a measuring stick for changes in the home and rental market in the United States, tracking the vibrancy of the rental and homebuilding market, and whether the nation was making progress on the serious issue of affordability.

On the 30th anniversary of the report’s first release, the authors created a comparison showing how the housing market of 1988 measures up against the market today. The chart below demonstrated the significant shifts of just the past few decades, and shows how things have gotten harder for younger buyers. It wasn’t all easy—interest rates hovered around 10.5 percent, for one thing—but the overall decrease in young adult homeownership reflects how things have shifted.

Overall, homes were smaller, but easier for the average American to afford (based on the cost-to-median-income comparison), and supply was much healthier. The student loan burden was also significantly smaller. This time capsule underlines the serious supply and cost challenges we face today, especially single-family homes, as well as the rise in the rent-burdened population.

This entry was posted in Demographics, Economics, National Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink.

60 Responses to The good old days really were

  1. Mike says:

    Good Morning New Jersey

  2. Xolepa says:

    Are those numbers inflation adjusted? If not, a lot of the statistics are – no big deal.

  3. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “President Trump makes hateful and racist rants every day about how immigrants are “bad” for the country, but he had no problem hiring undocumented immigrants to help him build the Trump Hotel in DC or Trump Tower in New York City. What a hypocrite.“- Bernie Sanders

    http://www.newsweek.com/trump-undocumented-immigrants-tower-demolish-724845

  4. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “PRESIDENT TRUMP HIRED UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS FOR $4 AN HOUR FOR DEMOLITION PROJECT: COURT DOCS”

  5. 3b says:

    We were all buying houses back in the 80s in our 20s and having kids with stay at home Moms those days are over. That’s all one needs to know.

  6. yome says:

    Median Income comparison is missing too. Stagnant Income with increasing debt burden will make it harder to afford a House.

  7. yome says:

    Why will someone pay more for work that can be done cheaper by illegals?.
    If Congress legislate to get rid of illegals then we will be forced to pay higher wages.It is not hypocrite but smart to lower cost.

    Illegals brings down American salary

    ““President Trump makes hateful and racist rants every day about how immigrants are “bad” for the country, but he had no problem hiring undocumented immigrants to help him build the Trump Hotel in DC or Trump Tower in New York City. What a hypocrite.“- Bernie Sanders

  8. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Yes, they lower wages, don’t lower prices, and hence, increase profits. Think about the long term impact of this on the economy….capitalism is killing itself with unhinged greed. Have to have balance between profit, labor, and pricing.

    Unfortunately, profit is dominating this equation since the 1970’s. Hence, incredible negative trends in income inequality that will prob only be fixed with anger and pitch forks.

    This current obsession with low cost labor and never ending profit growth is not sustainable. You can’t grow profits year after year into infinite while suppressing wages to levels that can’t support economic growth. Just impossible.

    yome says:
    June 23, 2018 at 10:21 am
    Why will someone pay more for work that can be done cheaper by illegals?.
    If Congress legislate to get rid of illegals then we will be forced to pay higher wages.It is not hypocrite but smart to lower cost.

    Illegals brings down American salary

  9. The Great Pumpkin says:

    We put a crook in office. Pathetic. Providing a good service and value is how business is supposed to work, too bad people like Trump make their money by underpaying and straight ripping people off. Says a lot about our current society that people would allow this type of person to be president just because they got a tax break that will have to be paid back by your grandkids.

    “Was in the construction business for many years. Some developers would purposefully short subcontractors around 10% at the end if the project. Most of the time the amount is not worth chasing because of legal fees. “T” was one of these types. He’s a chump who made his millions off the backs of the little guys. I truely despise this man.”

  10. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “Unfortunately so true. A friend’s 75 year family business was forced to close it’s doors due to this chump…”

  11. The Great Pumpkin says:

    “Im one of them. 389,000. 1.7 mil im court for 3 yrs. Broke 7 contractors. Loss homes, slow comeback, and acquired bad habits plus the added bonus of broken families. Heartless!”

  12. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Yes, as I try to explain over and over, the later stages of capitalism is like cannibalism. As the money concentrates over time, it feeds on the middle and lower classes till the economy is no longer capable of functioning due to capital concentrated in a few hands. You have witnessed this over your life, just look at your post below.

    3b says:
    June 23, 2018 at 9:48 am
    We were all buying houses back in the 80s in our 20s and having kids with stay at home Moms those days are over. That’s all one needs to know.

  13. Yo! says:

    Big housing problem today is difficulty governments have issuing building permits. Especially troublesome in coastal California for single family permits, and in New York City suburbs for multifamily. Battle going for 60-unit apartment building in Short Hills. Millburn might just decide to let abandoned gas station stay for years or decades.

    Didn’t make much news when Park Ridge mayor over his towns opposition to issuing building permits. For some reason, people insist they have the right to decide what happens on other people’s property, invoking neighborhood character. Even when the only character to a neighborhood is 90%+ white people.

  14. Yo! says:

    Mayor resigned

  15. dentss dunnigan says:

    THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP! Our boys are coming home! US prepares for North Korea’s return of American war remains ….MSM refuses to post the story because it presents Trump in a good light …

  16. joyce says:

    What role, if any, do you think a government (all levels) should play with respect to a Master Plan, Zoning, etc?

    Off topic (but on your favorite location), how much of the contraction in Hudson would not have happened without PILOTs, Abbot, etc?

    Yo! says:
    June 23, 2018 at 11:30 am

    For some reason, people insist they have the right to decide what happens on other people’s property,

  17. joyce says:

    The absolute numbers: yes/maybe.

    The ratios and percentages: no/maybe

    Xolepa says:
    June 23, 2018 at 8:31 am
    Are those numbers inflation adjusted? If not, a lot of the statistics are – no big deal.

  18. Ex-Essex says:

    “Trump is an anarchist,” said Jack O’Donnell, a former president of the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino, who became a sharp critic. “It was his approach in business, it is his approach as president. It does not take good negotiating skills to cause chaos. Will this ever lead to concessions? Maybe, but concessions to what? Not anything that resembles a deal. I just do not see him getting much done.”

    Ultimately, his advisers said, his hard-line positions that for now have left him at an impasse with negotiating partners should pay off in ways that did not for presidents like Barack Obama and George W. Bush. “I don’t think it’s that counterintuitive to say that playing hardball will lead to better trade deals eventually,” said Andy Surabian, a Republican strategist and former aide to Mr. Trump.

  19. Ex-Essex says:

    President Trump likes nothing more than presenting himself as the ultimate deal maker, the master negotiator who can translate his success in business into the worlds of politics, policy and diplomacy. “That’s what I do, is deals,” he said one day last month.

    Except that so far he has not. As he threw in the towel on immigration legislation on Friday, saying that Republicans should give up even trying until after the fall midterm elections, Mr. Trump once again fell short of his promise to make “beautiful” deals that no other president could make.

  20. The Great Pumpkin says:

    This is not personally against you, it’s against this argument I hear over and over. It’s a weak argument to blame lack of building permits for the rapid appreciation of desirable locations making these places unaffordable for most. It has everything to do with income inequality…follow the money in a market based system based on competition. Top gets more buying power further driving up prices in their markets, while the rest get the door slammed shut as their stagnating wages lowers their ability to go into desirable markets.

    In simple terms, builders and developers are focusing on the only groups they can make money on. Go ahead, issue building permits, but no builder wants to touch low cost housing when the buying bloc has stagnating wages and is already tapped out in terms of spending. Aka there is absolutely no money to be made on developing housing for the majority of the population. Fact!

    Yo! says:
    June 23, 2018 at 11:30 am
    Big housing problem today is difficulty governments have issuing building permits. Especially troublesome in coastal California for single family permits, and in New York City suburbs for multifamily. Battle going for 60-unit apartment building in Short Hills. Millburn might just decide to let abandoned gas station stay for years or decades.

  21. homeboken says:

    Pumpkin says:
    “Yes, they lower wages, don’t lower prices, and hence, increase profits. Think about the long term impact of this on the economy….capitalism is killing itself with unhinged greed. Have to have balance between profit, labor, and pricing”

    This is where you don’t get it. Capitalism is not killing itself. Just the same way that corporations ARE NOT killing themselves. The economy is a living/breathing thing, it finds it’s own equilibrium and will adjust to reflect the choices made by the participants. Trades only occur with two willing parties – Whether you trade an hour of your time for a wage or you trade $ to purchase AMZN. The trade reflects the market, NO ONE is a forced participant. You are always free to not make the trade.

  22. Ex-Essex says:

    12:06 sure

  23. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Homeboken,

    Yes, you are correct that it will find its equilibrium in time…..and it won’t be pretty. Why go through needless hell when you know what the problem is and the destruction it will cause? Give me one good reason. So just let the extreme inbalance in the economy go unabated till it all crashes down, right? It’s pure stupidity on our part to let the system go to extremes that result in giant crashes. Why? Just why do this to ourselves?

  24. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Want to touch on this some more.

    The only way you get housing for the poor and middle class is by subsidizing or finding a builder to build without profit. There is absolutely no money to be made off this segment of the population or capitalism would be exploiting it for profit already.

    This is what happens with stagnating wages. Their buying power is slammed shut, and even though there is a demand for it, capitalism doesn’t listen unless you have extra capital to provide a profit.

    “Aka there is absolutely no money to be made on developing housing for the majority of the population. Fact!”

  25. yome says:

    Let us not forget Flores vs Reno. Trump signed an EO unifying families at the Border but after 20 days Flores vs Reno kicks in. After 20 days children needs to be separated from adult family. Unless the courts approve the application of the DOJ this will take effect.

    Trump can say he did his part.He followed the law.

    Democrats will have to come up with something with in the law,if they really care about this families

  26. yome says:

    Border Guards are standing right at the border line telling asylum seekers to come back they are full.

    US law needs to take any asylum seeker if they are with in the US land.

    To prevent this,they are standing right on the border line

  27. Ex-Essex says:

    What a rube…
    “We weren’t even talking about these under Obama or Bush,” he added. “There was no talking about renegotiating better trade deals. You couldn’t even get China to the table before Trump came along. We’ll see what the final outcome is, but it’s already a success just to get them to the table.”

    Mr. Trump points to a few deals, notably the major tax-cutting package that passed late last year. But even that was negotiated mainly by Republican lawmakers, who said Mr. Trump did not seem engaged in the details. Nor did he secure the bipartisan support he had hoped for. And as legislative challenges go, handing out tax cuts without paying for them is not exactly the hardest thing that politicians do.

  28. chicagofinance says:

    Obama had no idea what was in Obamacare or the Porkulus…..

    Ex-Essex says:
    June 23, 2018 at 6:15 pm
    What a rube…
    “We weren’t even talking about these under Obama or Bush,” he added. “There was no talking about renegotiating better trade deals. You couldn’t even get China to the table before Trump came along. We’ll see what the final outcome is, but it’s already a success just to get them to the table.”

    Mr. Trump points to a few deals, notably the major tax-cutting package that passed late last year. But even that was negotiated mainly by Republican lawmakers, who said Mr. Trump did not seem engaged in the details. Nor did he secure the bipartisan support he had hoped for. And as legislative challenges go, handing out tax cuts without paying for them is not exactly the hardest thing that politicians do.

  29. homeboken says:

    It’s been a LONG time since I was in Harrison, for a Red Bulls game. The area is really developing quickly. It’s starting to look a lot like Hoboken, with multiple 5-story apartment buildings with 1st floor retail. The surrounding area though is still very much industrial. Anyone know the prices in that location? As of right now, it looks like there is zero to do there other than go to the Red Bulls game :).

  30. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Sickening. 458 million?! Scam artists = non profits.

    “Southwest Key Programs was paid at least $458 million in fiscal 2018 to house unaccompanied children, as President Donald Trump’s administration has enforced its “zero-tolerance” policy of prosecuting all who cross the border illegally.”

    Housing immigrant kids is big business for a non-profit paying its CEO nearly $1.5 million – USA TODAY
    https://apple.news/A7jJc_cw4TnSJ91OrTZnKvQ

  31. Fast Eddie says:

    All you liberal cunts should go to the Red Hen in Lexington Va. and die from food poisoning. F.uck you. F.uck you. F.uck you.

  32. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I just want to know why it costs half a billion dollars for 6 months of housing for illegal immigrants.

  33. grim says:

    Comes to about $700 a day per child.

    Assuming that’s covering food, shelter, clothing, medical care, supervision, education, administrative fees, etc etc.

  34. Yome says:

    Get more border crossing guards to stand right behind the border line to prevent illegals

  35. grim says:

    Compared to say, Asbury Park School System, paying $33,000 for 6 hours a day, 185 days a year.

    Normalized, we’re talking about roughly $723 per day comparison. Which doesn’t include food, medical care, clothing, etc etc.

    Not trying to justify anything, but put some perspective around the number. Agree though, follow the money. Big money to be made in keeping kids in prison, very profitable.

  36. grim says:

    For example, I think Michael Conahan, Robert Powell, and Mark Ciavarella should have received the death penalty for the kickbacks they took in exchange for sentencing kids to for-profit detention centers.

    Death penalty.

    They should have been hung in public.

    There is no penalty harsh enough for the crimes they committed. Perhaps their families should have been sentenced to life in prison as well, certainly their children should never see the light of day.

  37. The Great Pumpkin says:

    I’m trying to find data on Asbury Park, but it’s pretty tough. Says 9-1 teacher/student ratio at the high school. That must mean it’s pretty much special ed. Only way that 33,000 avg makes any type of sense.

    Anyone have any knowledge about this district? Why is the cost per pupil so high? That number is way higher than 99% of the school districts in this state, so it had to draw a red flag and audit. Was there an audit performed? If not, that’s pathetic.

    *Food is included. I see that 88% receive free food for that district.

    grim says:
    June 24, 2018 at 9:01 am
    Compared to say, Asbury Park School System, paying $33,000 for 6 hours a day, 185 days a year.

    Normalized, we’re talking about roughly $723 per day comparison. Which doesn’t include food, medical care, clothing, etc etc.

    Not trying to justify anything, but put some perspective around the number. Agree though, follow the money. Big money to be made in keeping kids in prison, very profitable.

  38. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    They are drowning in money. It all likely goes to politically connected construction firms or administrators out of district who statrt their own bogus consulting firms.

  39. The Great Pumpkin says:

    If you are paying every teacher a 100,000 for 9 kids, where is the other 200,000 going. I would imagine the biggest cost should be the teacher, but this is clearly not the case.

    Consulting should be outlawed in public education, it’s just abused. Any way the state can buy its own construction business? Have it audited by the thousand of crazies that would love to audit the finances for free to make sure tax money is not being misappropriated.

    We should apply this to the entire govt. Open up the books, people will analyze for free. Guaranteed money will be accounted for, and it’s all free. Biggest tax savings ever from a policy that costs nothing. And if the public chooses not to audit the numbers, it’s their money they are losing. Win win situation.

    Blue Ribbon Teacher says:
    June 24, 2018 at 10:18 am
    They are drowning in money. It all likely goes to politically connected construction firms or administrators out of district who statrt their own bogus consulting firms.

  40. The Great Pumpkin says:

    Let’s start the movement.

    #openupthebooks!

  41. Ex-Essex says:

    8:38 that wall-eyed bitch can eat at Chik Fil Anus…

  42. Very Stable Genius says:

    @JProskowGlobal

    NEW:
    I just spoke with the former head of US Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) –

    He tells me that he expects hundreds of separated children will never be reunited with their parents.

    They will be lost in the system.
    Orphaned by the US Govt’.

  43. Not MethyEddie says:

    Eddie, why are you so upset about the Red Hen? You got expect this when the bar of civility is brought down. On top of that the Supremes said is ok. If you don’t want to bake a cake for someone based on X social/political factor, then you must realize it applies both ways.

    I’ll make a prediction. We hit bottom with Trump, from now on he’s going downhill. Sometimes you got to wait to see what stops an opponent that reveal his weakness. The weakness is the broad lack of empathy, a general Marie Antoinette let them have cake moment. This issue is the equivalent of the most famous McCarthy incident, a hearings with the exchange between McCarthy and the army’s chief legal representative, Joseph Nye Welch. The point where just like the Catholic Church could get away with a lot of cr@p until it could not.

    A large chunk of the GOP deep staters can’t stand him. This wing is backed by deep non-ideological just do what I want corporate money, which is not happy with the tariffs (even if truly needed). So the knives are being sharpened. I predict if the dems get the House and impeach, the GOP controlled Senate will convict to move on.

    Finally, you all are very naive in politics.

    The dems use public employees’ time (forced in Hudson County) and donations (again forced in Hudson County) to power the electoral vote getting machines. So of course in the quid pro quo – public employees will receive the rewards.

    The GOP use corporate money to hire pro’s to power its electoral vote getting machines. The money comes from corporate donors from favors done and contracts awarded. A federal facility that I know switch bathroom paper towels from a regular company to Uline. There is a link to him here https://www.politico.com/story/2018/03/19/republican-megadonor-uihlein-470268

    Many social services contracts that would smell if done by a for-profit are done by a non-profit shell that contracts out to for-profit. The whole Florida Child Protective system was privatize by Jeb Bush like this, and you can read any major FL paper for results.

    So cheer up people. The ride is going to get even better.

  44. Very Stable Genius says:

    @GeorgeWill
    Vote against the GOP this November

    “Ryan and many other Republicans have become the president’s poodles, not because James Madison’s system has failed but because today’s abject careerists have failed to be worthy of it.

    As explained in Federalist 51: “Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place.”

    Congressional Republicans have no higher ambition than to placate this president.

    By leaving dormant the powers inherent in their institution, they vitiate the Constitution’s vital principle: the separation of powers.”

  45. Very Stable Genius says:

    @PaulKrugman

    OK, this is kind of a landmark.

    George Will and I don’t agree on much, but he has principles:

    “Ryan traded his political soul for . . . a tax cut.”

  46. Yo! says:

    Joyce 12:22pm yesterday,

    Houston has a smart land use model. No zoning, a situation supported by the people repeatedly over the decades theoigh referendums. Housing supply keeps up with rapid growth in housing demand, unlike West Coast where demand is growing, but regulations prevent homebuildong to keep pace with demand.

    PILOTs and Abbott rules don’t impact construction levels in Hudson. These tax schemes push of the value of land, and lower taxes mean developers can pay more for land and hit their return targets. Weehawken has the most construction relative to its land area and population in Hudson, and Weehawken doesn’t give PILOTs and has never been an Abbott.

  47. Phoenix says:

    “Big money to be made in keeping kids in prison, very profitable.”

    Sure is, and these two judges did just that- Movie made called “Kids for Cash”
    Remember to respect your elders, as they are always looking out for your best interest. At least these 2 old bas tur z went to jail….

    “The “kids for cash” scandal centered on judicial kickbacks to two judges at the Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.[1] In 2008, judges Michael Conahan and Mark Ciavarella were accused of accepting money in return for imposing harsh adjudications on juveniles to increase occupancy at for-profit detention centers.[2]

    Ciavarella disposed thousands of children to extended stays in youth centers for offenses as trivial as mocking an assistant principal on Myspace or trespassing in a vacant building.[3] After a judge rejected an initial plea agreement in 2009,[4][5] a federal grand jury returned a 48-count indictment.[6] In 2010, Conahan pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy and was sentenced to 17.5 years in federal prison.[7] Ciavarella opted to go to trial the following year. He was convicted on 12 of 39 counts and sentenced to 28 years in federal prison.[8]”

  48. Phoenix says:

    Housing prices (construction) have gone up a reasonable amount.
    Housing prices (land) have gone up an exorbitant amount-old goats keep wringing more and more money out of the same piece of dirt-along with leaving debt to the municipality that serves that dirt.
    It’s a recipe for disaster, but we are reaching the coffin corner each and every day…

  49. Phoenix says:

    The “Red Hen.”
    Dotards are harassing the Red Hen in Swedesboro NJ- you would think they would at least bother to check before they destroy the reputation of a totally unrelated business- claiming it’s dirty, etc. Goes to show you the power of social media if those who utilize it know how to manipulate.

    Old goats should stick to landline phones and newspapers. They are unable to process the real from the fake, perception from empirical evidence. It’s really pathetic…

  50. Not Phoenician says:

    2038 – The USA has a rebirth as the last of locust plague is hunted and put down
    2028- Ground-up material for Soylent Green to feed starving broke off-springs
    2018 – Tea Party “Hands off my Medicare” Old Goats but need my illegals to cut lawn
    1988 – Bolivian Marching powder Blue Star aficionados
    1968 – Smelly Hippie Pot Head Draft dodgers
    1948 – The birth of a nasty ugly diseased generation

  51. joyce says:

    These tax schemes push of the value of land, and lower taxes mean developers can pay more for land…

    This is one “unseen” factor that I was wondering about. Do you think if previous owners were offered less money, they wouldn’t have sold? Or if the taxes were considerably higher, developers wouldn’t get the required ROI?
    ————————
    Houston has a smart land use model. No zoning…

    You’re more familiar with Hudson county than I am, but do they really have no or very little zoning regulations? Am I allowed to buy a house and put up a multi story hotel? Can I knock down a row house and build a gas station? I’m not trying to argue, just looking for some examples of where the limits are, if any?

  52. dentssdunnigan says:

    Asbury Park is one of the Abbott failures …while the beach area is trying to come back the west side of the RR tracks is a bottomless pit of disrepair and shootings .It’s schools are losing students everyday but the cost stay the same I believe in the entire school system they only have 2000 kids which at one time was over 5k .so If you still have the same buildings and teachers no cost can be cut ..

  53. Grim says:

    Open the books and give anyone who finds corruption 50% of what they find as a finders fee.

  54. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    They don’t have the same buildings. They built new ones. The ghettos get all the expensive state of the art buildings while the wealthiest suburbs are house in crumbling buildings in disrepair.

  55. chicagofinance says:

    puts

  56. The Great Pumpkin says:

    This is insane any way you look at it.

    Blue Ribbon Teacher says:
    June 24, 2018 at 7:19 pm
    They don’t have the same buildings. They built new ones. The ghettos get all the expensive state of the art buildings while the wealthiest suburbs are house in crumbling buildings in disrepair.

  57. Blue Ribbon Teacher says:

    This is why you cannot support the Abbott funding situation. It enriches politically connect people and uses the Asbury kids as pawns. None of it goes to the teachers or makes it into the classroom.

    For other cities like Hoboken and Jersey City, they use our money to grant firms tax breaks to spur development. Despite the influx of wealth into the communities there, they still siphon our tax dollars away instead of supporting their own school system.

  58. The Original NJ ExPat says:

    Democrats are definitely going to lose seats in November. Economy and unemployment will convert some Independent voters to vote “R”, illegal immigration will convert more than it loses to do the same.

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