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I also remember the "rule" that a house should cost 2 years salary. And when I graduated college in the early 80s, starting salaries were $25-$30K, and you could get a house for $60K on Long Island.

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IIRC, the "rule" was 4 years. And that's about what homes in the USA cost today (median home cost is apx 4.5x median household income).

It's been growing over time. It was 2x, then 4x, now 4.5x. This is an increasing problem.

It's been between 3.5x to 4.5x pretty much the entire history such data has been tracked in the USA, a bit over 100 years now.

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