Putting Today’s Record Low Housing Inventory in Context
Economists distinguish between “real” and “nominal” numbers.
So, someone who made $40,000 in 1989 (25 years ago) and now makes $60,00 would certainly appear to be better off.
But they’re not.
The reason: prices have doubled since then, which means that — to have simply kept pace — someone would have to make $80k today.
Cue: Today’s Housing Market
What’s any of that got to do with today’s housing market?
Housing experts who are now citing that housing inventory is the lowest it’s been in 13 years (true) are in fact significantly understating how tight supply is.
That’s because — due to immigration and population growth since then — there are another 30 million people in today’s housing market.
