It really depends on the area. Sale prices on houses in my admittedly less desirable neighborhood are only up 20%, maybe 25% from 2019, but that's not actually far off from inflation. It's mortgage rates that have really raised the cost of owning a home, combined with inflation way outpacing salaries.

I've tried both ways and I've decided that planting actual plants is much easier, albeit much more expensive, than seeds. Most large nurseries now sell a native plant brand and some natives are widely sold so if you do research there are more options than you'd think.

Yeah, everyone seems to think that it's Boston proper thats the issue, but if you look at other major US cities, it's fairly obvious that our problem is an insistence on bucolic rural New England towns within a 20-30 min drive of the city.