Because current home prices (post-crash) are still at unsustainable multiples of incomes.
My wife and I just bought a house. We could have afforded something big an shiny and new, but the prices being asked for that are simply unconscionable. Houses are not worth that much, and anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional. We are still in a bubble.
Instead we bought a rather nice small house in town, for less than my yearly base salary (i.e. not counting my wife's income or bonuses). It's not showy, but it's exceedingly comfortable. We'll spend some cash to make a few changes, but our payments are half of what our rent was previously.
We could have easily spent five times as much money, for a house that wouldn't suit our needs any better than the one we bought. How could the underlying asset possibly be worth five times as much? It can't be. Bubble. I'll invest my surplus income in something with sound fundamentals instead, thank you.
My wife and I just bought a house. We could have afforded something big an shiny and new, but the prices being asked for that are simply unconscionable. Houses are not worth that much, and anyone who thinks otherwise is delusional. We are still in a bubble.
Instead we bought a rather nice small house in town, for less than my yearly base salary (i.e. not counting my wife's income or bonuses). It's not showy, but it's exceedingly comfortable. We'll spend some cash to make a few changes, but our payments are half of what our rent was previously.
We could have easily spent five times as much money, for a house that wouldn't suit our needs any better than the one we bought. How could the underlying asset possibly be worth five times as much? It can't be. Bubble. I'll invest my surplus income in something with sound fundamentals instead, thank you.