- Housing affordability was even worse for some Baby Boomers, per a new Realtor.com analysis.
- That's because homebuyers in 1981 were saddled with 18% mortgage rates, the listing site said.
It's not just millennials. Some baby boomers also got the short end of the stick when it comes to housing affordability, according to a new analysis from Realtor.com.
The real estate listing site analyzed housing market data dating back to 1973, including monthly data on single-family home prices, weekly data on the 30-year mortgage rate, and annual data on median household income.
Though researchers weren't able to consider factors like regional price differences, they found that housing conditions were generally more unaffordable compared to today's standards in 1981, around the time most baby boomers had entered their prime homebuying years.
Back then, a single-family home cost around $66,125, around 6 times less than today's average home price of $410,110, Realtor.com said.
However, the median household income in 1981 was just $19,074 a year — around 4 times less than the median income of $73,505 today. Meanwhile, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate pushed past 18% in 1981 — almost triple the current mortgage rate of 6.89%.
The higher cost of borrowing means the housing market of the early 1980s was less affordable than today's market, researchers said, despite other studies claiming that housing has never been this unaffordable.
That's because a homebuyer in 1981 used 99.5% of their monthly mortgage payments to pay down the interest of their loan, and buyers that didn't refinance were unable to pay off 10% of the home's principal value until 18 years. Homebuyers today, meanwhile, use 85% of mortgage payments to pay interest, and can pay off 10% of the principal in 7 years if they don't refinance.
"Mortgage rates play a really substantial role in how affordable housing is at any time, especially since so many buyers buy with a mortgage," Realtor.com's chief economist Danielle Hale said in a statement.
Still, many baby boomers did refinance their homes by the time mortgage rates dipped below 10% in 1986, researchers noted, which helped improve affordability conditions later that decade. Meanwhile, millennials and Gen Zers, who are approaching their prime homebuying years, are strapped with other financial obligations that baby boomers weren't, Hale said.
"Boomers have been saying things were harder when we were young for a long time. And in some respects, they are right … But in other respects, they don't have the same amount of student loan debt and child care costs that young people have today," she added.
Experts say current affordability conditions won't improve until mortgage rates drop, though that's also unlikely to happen soon. Mortgage rates, which are influenced by real interest rates in the economy, are set to fall to just around 6% by the end of 2023, Redfin's chief economist estimated, though industry veterans say 5% interest rates are needed to jumpstart sales activity.