Head Tale

Here's a really good article I found on Reddit about the differences between the economic environment for baby boomers seeking to buy their first houses a generation ago and the realities for their kids looking to buy a first home today. 

“I’m of the belief that [the rise in housing prices is] likely the biggest differentiating factor between generations, in Canada at least.”

The author's contention is that young people today (at least where he is in BC) must spend somewhere around 7x their annual household income to purchase their first home whereas, for the average middle class family in the 1970's, this could be done for around a single year's household income. 

The writer is very clear to point out that he's doing massive generalizations using only his parent's situation and that of his and his partner.  Still, an interesting idea to consider. 

(I'm happy to report that Shea and I purchased a home that was, like this writers' parents, just slightly higher than our total household income when we purchased it – although we were admittedly extremely lucky to purchase in 2004 just before real estate took off in Saskatchewan.)