Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
In Calgary the median family income can afford the median SFH. I find it tough to see an affordability issue when that is the case.
As an aside I don’t think we give Gen Xers a hard enough time. I’m the tail end or the start of the millennials but bought a house a year too late. Gen X got to profit off the property increase along with being in higher earning jobs during the 2004-2014 oil boom rather than just starting careers.
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Is that the ages of the oldest millenials? This is part of the reason that arguing about which generation is at fault is sort of pointless though.
Anyway, I'm on the cusp between Gen X and Millenial (I think?) And all I know is were told how incredibly lucky we were to come into the workforce when we did. Apparently all the boomers would be retiring and so many jobs would be open that we were going to be amazingly blessed. Well...when I graduated from my undergrad there was double-digit unemployment and the boomers weren't retiring in droves. I think that's still the promise made though?
And judging housing prices by today's standards is incredibly difficult. It's true that they were much cheaper back in the day, but so were wages. To give an example that's not related, but might put things in perspective, people would buy life insurance for $5,000 or $10,000 face values. These days no one is considering that. The minimum is basically $100,000 and people are routinely at $500k and above. It's just inflation. It's easy to look back today and think "wow a house for $200k! I would have bought 3-4 of those and made a killing!". But back then you would have had an income of like $30k/yr which is roughly minimum wage today. You're not buying 3 houses with that kind of income unless someone is foolish enough to let you borrow 15-18 times your income!