Now we’re moving from broad income & wealth to a very specific good in housing.
Yes, housing supply should be much more abundant. The constraint on supply has not been the 1%, but government regulation through zoning and environmental restrictions.
This is belatedly being recognized and addressed in a shockingly bipartisan manner for now.
But also worth noting that the median home today is much larger and nicer than in 1985. Interest rates have (even today) been low enough—and incomes high enough—that ownership rates for these bigger, better homes are a few ticks higher than 40 years ago, as well.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not even disputing your main point-- I do agree that things have gotten better for the average American over the last decades.
Though I still think that longer-term inflation adjustment (CPI based comparisons even more so) always warrant a critical look.
> Yes, housing supply should be much more abundant. The constraint on supply has not been the 1%, but government regulation through zoning and environmental restrictions.
I'm not buying the whole "regulation is to blame for rising housing costs" at all. If it was, I would expect countless "housing havens": states/nations in the US/Europe with "correct regulation" and housing costs at least staying stable over the last decades: But I don't see those.
My take on this is that this is mainly a consequence of the Baumol effect; local-labor intensive products like houses, childcare, education suffer from strongly rising costs because wages increased generally; regulation cant/wont magically solve this.
But if you just compare wage development itself, things look much better over time than they actually are for the average person, because you omit this effect from your consideration by design.
So things actually improved much less for the average American than a first glance at your numbers suggests.
This chart I stumbled across yesterday at least matches my anecdotal understanding that, yes, there are places like Houston and Minneapolis where in fact what you’re looking for has happened, because supply has been allowed to rise to meet growing demand:
> Now we’re moving from broad income & wealth to a very specific good in housing.
Housing is pretty much the cornerstone of American society. It's the one thing the middle class has done to increase their wealth and security. It's not just a specific good - it's the poster-child of the American dream and American prosperity.
Yes, housing supply should be much more abundant. The constraint on supply has not been the 1%, but government regulation through zoning and environmental restrictions.
This is belatedly being recognized and addressed in a shockingly bipartisan manner for now.
But also worth noting that the median home today is much larger and nicer than in 1985. Interest rates have (even today) been low enough—and incomes high enough—that ownership rates for these bigger, better homes are a few ticks higher than 40 years ago, as well.