Boomers grieve not becoming grandparents–Millennials have little sympathy

Boomers are so insanely out of touch with what younger people are suffering through, it’s insane.

In my corner of the world, my own house was built and sold for $15,900 back in 1972. Minimum wage at the time was $2/hr, or $4,000/yr. That means a detached, 2,000ft² SFH on freehold land was only 4× minimum wage.

This is what allowed almost anyone, at almost any wage level, to own a home, a car in the garage, support a SAH spouse and two children, and still be able to take yearly vacations and save generously for retirement.

These days, that same home - 52 years old, now - is 28× minimum wage. A brand new detached SFH on freehold land, as per the above example? Just shy of 40× minimum wage.

To return to that 4× multiple, homes would have to drop by almost 85% in value, or minimum wage would have to be over $150/hr, or $300,000/yr. And the median wage in my region - not even MINIMUM wage!! - is $45,000/yr.

People aren’t going to start families when they don’t have stable and affordable housing to work with, much less the well-paying jobs that put a decent chunk of their labour’s value back into their pockets.