Thank you for doing the math, I was being lazy.

Average salary in 1981 was 47,720, 2022 it’s 53,490. 47,720 adjusted for inflation to 2022 would be 155,481. People in 1981 had almost 3x the buying power of people in 2022.

Edit - average salary in 1981 was 10,495. 47,720 is already adjusted for inflation.

There is also the exponential growth law. The greater the number, the bigger the impact of APR changes. A house at 68k’s annual interest. 7.5% = 5100 10% = 6800 Difference of 1700

A house at 348k: 7.5% = 26100 10% = 34800 Difference of 8700

This is why interest is a larger impact now. When houses are 68k going up 2.5% is not a massive impact. That’s $142 on a monthly payment. You can penny pinch to make that happen. At 348k a 2.5% hike is $725 monthly. There’s not many who can penny pinch to get around that. These are in year dollar values because that is how the impact would be felt.

Housing prices have far outpaced wages leaving minor interest rate increases to cause massive swings in profitability. There is always the chance to refinance but we’ve all gotta wait on that.