Quote:
Originally Posted by jwslam
I feel like I know the exact house... Brown carpets in Macewan?
How does this even accurately reflect inflation though?
In the 60's a family of 4 was happy with 1200sqft, 3 bedrooms one bathroom to be average.
Nowadays that same family wants 2200 sqft 5br + fully developed basement, 3 bathrooms with double vanities in each, 80sqft dedicated to a jetted tub that she uses twice a year, a toilet to be used only by guests that come over 3 days year, along with their leased BMW and Audi.
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Tough to say, Most don’t have what you describe above. The Median single family house is 459k which does not get you your spec list. You are in the 3 bed 1800 sqrt price in suburbia. Then you have all the existing inventory which is what you describe as “60s family housing”. In addition that median does not include all the people in townhouses or Condos. I think what you are describing is the wealth gap that the 2 income professionals enjoy over other family types.
I’m not sure how inflation addresses an improvement in quality. For example a cell phone did not exist and a cell phone with data did not exist 40 and 20 years ago. Now the inflation rate on cell plans would me meaningful. Or TVs now are far cheaper even in just dollar for dollar comparisons so how do you account for improvement in tech do you compare a 36” TV to a 36” TV or the median TV to the Median TV. I suspect that’s why you see different price index’s used to calculate inflation.
One thing that is certainly missed is stock market inflation. A reduction in rate of return would not show up in any inflation calculator but it is a symptom of the underlying problem of money vs productivity.