I'm skeptical that you go from the lowest rates in history, over the longest period in history, to the fastest hikes in history...without some serious economic repercussions.
>significant wage gains.
Consumed by inflation, for the most part (but at least we kept pace). The average person isn't wealthier.
You don't feel it in SF/NYC/Boston/Seattle but that's also due to industry skew, and you absolutely feel the economic change in cities like ATL, Phoenix, Columbus, etc
In the tier 1 cities I mentioned, wages are growing much slower than the cost of living, but that isn't true for the rest of the country anymore.
[0] - https://www.statista.com/statistics/1351276/wage-growth-vs-i...
This is a conversation about America, not your country.
You only got 3% because you were not able or willing to find a buyer to give you more than 3%. Any other reason is just the buyer being polite.
Obviously, this works both ways too.