The 5x Threshold: How Unaffordable Became the New Normal For decades, housing economists treated a price-to-income ratio above 5.0 as a coastal anomaly. San Francisco. Manhattan. Maybe Boston in a hot year. That framing is now obsolete. According to Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies, 39 of the 100 largest U.S. Metros crossed the 5x...
At 6.53% mortgage rates, the typical 2026 buyer pays $768 more per month than the typical renter — and won't break even on that premium for 5 years 8 months.
A homebuyer in October 1981 locked in 18.63%. In January 2021, another locked in 2.65%. That 14-point gap is the difference between paying for one house and almost three.
Learn practical strategies to save for a down payment amid rising mortgage rates and inflation, with real-world examples and actionable steps.