A housing bill currently awaiting approval at the federal level serves to further underline an issue with affordability that has festered for quite some time.

The bill aims to restrict large institutional investors from buying up single-family homes, among other things. By increasing the supply on the market, it hopes to ease the affordability crisis.

Prospective home buyers younger than 40 have had an especially hard time.

In 1975, the gap between the median home price and the median under-40 household income was about $90,000. By 2024, it reached about $250,000.

In other words, the median house costs a quarter million dollars more than the median household income for those born in or after 1986.

The graph of the median home price in the U.S. shows a steep line up and to the right after the Great Recession in the late 2000s.

Also, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate dropped below 3% in July 2020 and mostly stayed there until December 2021. But since September 2022, it has hovered between 6.1 and 7.8%.

Not surprisingly, 87% of all U.S. adults say buying a home is harder for younger adults now than it was for their parents.

Affordability issues aren’t confined to home-buying. Renters need to make nearly $70,000 a year now to afford modest two-bedroom apartments on average. That number swells to more than $100,000 in California.

With housing that expensive, it’s all the more important to save money where you can on your cell phone bill, streaming and entertainment subscriptions and more.

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The Team Clark Consumer Action Center is a free helpline that can help you navigate your money questions. Call 636-492-5275. Visit clark.com/cac for more information.