Report: Homes as Affordable as They've Been in 20 Years

When I first became interested in real estate, rates were right around 7%(-ish). And every time rates appeared to be creeping up, my Dad would holler, "Back in the day, rates were 14% -- and people still bought houses right and left! People have to have a place to live, no matter what rates are like."

While that's true "back in the day," homes routinely went for $40,000 or $75,000. These days, the median home price is around $177,000 and in my neck of the woods, the median is upwards of $600,000. Seven percent of that is vastly higher and much more prohibitive to home ownership, than 14% of $40,000.