Boomers reveal how much their first house cost them and it proves they lived in a different era

Many millennials and Gen Z can't even imagine buying homes in today's time when house prices are surging whereas salaries see low growth. One would be surprised to know that the houses in the US currently cost about $3,95,000 on average and it will further increase to $4,05,200 in the coming year, according to Fast Company. But there was a time when things weren't so difficult and that was in the 80s and 90s, when boomers were investing in their first houses. A content creator named Delo, in a series of videos in TikTok (@dangerousruff), asked elderly people how much they paid for their first house and their responses are leaving younger generations quite surprised.  

In one video, he asks a man in a supermarket how much he paid for his first house and the person responds, "$37,000." Delo seems shocked and then the man tells him, "It was in the 1980s." After this, the TikTok user asks an elderly woman who was with the man the same question and she replies, "$16,000." Delo is baffled after hearing this. 

The video went viral and garnered about 13 million views. People were surprised to hear the house cost was low back then. @Thatjeepguy1996 commented, "$16,000 will get me like 3 months of rent." @tedmeister wrote, "Only 40 years ago. Yet the price has gone up 50x." @lolwhatdoinanamemyself shared, "His first house accounting for inflation is $147,000. Still insanely low for what we are looking at right now." @typo said, "…salaries have only gone up 10-20%. Real estate is up 300%+." @madders19 commented, "My grandparents built their current house in 1968 and it was $17,500."

In another video, Delo first asks a woman how much she paid for her first house and she seems a little taken aback. so she asks, "Why?" That's when a man who seems to be her husband replies, "That was 53 years ago, it was $25,600." Delo then asks him, "How much were gas prices back then?" and the person says, "Probably about 32 cents a gallon." 

People couldn't believe how cheap everything was earlier. @blp001_ said, "$25k is the price of a car these days. That’s crazy." @popheadz.official wrote, "You could fill up your whole tank for less than the price of a McChicken today." @user6286125352508 commented, "I remember being a kid and gas was 80 plus cents and I’m only in my 40’s. In the 90’s I could fill up off $5.00. Those were the days." @nataliaroze13 expressed, "53 years and the minimum wage is only $7 and our starter homes are a minimum of 250k." 

The house prices in the US have been surging and the number of homes on the market by the end of August last year was down by more than 9%, according to Fox Business. As per Barclays economists, one of the reasons for surging prices is baby boomers. "The US housing sector is on the upswing again, even with mortgage rates at multi-decade highs," the strategists, led by Jonathan Millar, wrote in an analyst note called "Blame the Boomers." "Although much has been attributed to shortages of existing properties and mortgage lock-in effects, we think strong demand is a symptom of the aging population," they added.  

Miller says that the aging population is supposed to need fewer homes but the baby boomers, who are between 57 and 75 years old, are forming new households. They are doing this either due to divorce or death but the bigger problem is that they are not freeing up existing supply. So, because of the formation of new households, the demand for both homeownership and rentals is going up, according to Barclays analysts. 

You can follow Delo (@dangeloruff) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.