Those are fair points. But I think it’s also misleading to look at prices in a fixed location over time, which ignores that places can become relatively more desirable and move upmarket. Yeah, your parents bought a house in Mountain View for cheap. But they were moving to escape high housing prices in the New York or Chicago suburbs where they grew up.

> Meanwhile between 1984 and today median income increased by ~290% while median new home prices increased by ~425%

The average FHA mortgage rate in 1984 was 13.2%. Today’s it’s 6.8%. The more expensive house with a cheaper mortgage costs $482 per month less and $173,000 less over the lifetime of the loan.