Yes. And homes were much cheaper. When I said the cost to buy has never been higher, I meant it literally.

Take a home that was valued at $250K at the peak of the last RE bubble. Even if that home were on sale for $250K today, the actual cost of that home is significantly higher than it was at the height of the last bubble because interest rates are significantly higher today than they were then. Prices are higher too. And if you add the impact of interest rate increases to the price increases the housing market has seen over the last 12-18 months on monthly cost to buyer (instead of just focusing on asset price inflation), the rate of change is just unprecedented.