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To: s-words who wrote (96545)	4/19/2001 6:59:53 PM
From: Ilaine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

The percentage is of families who own their primary residence. There's no way to slice or dice that. It is what it is. Affordability is so dependent on location and income there's probably no meaningful way to measure it simply.

To: s-words who wrote (96545)	4/19/2001 9:06:20 PM
From: GraceZ	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 436258

Monthly income data is hard to compare due to the higher percentage of 2-income families now vs. 1965. Unless you're talking per-capita instead of household income. One of the things you have to avoid when you are trying to understand how things change over time is to pick out a period in history and call it normal. Yes, houses were quite affordable in the 50-60's (very low interest rates)and yes only one person worked in the family. But if you look at the whole history of the US you'd be hard put to say that was normal. In the real old days, back when most people lived on a farm or ranch, everybody worked including the children. The same was true for city families and even merchant class. If your dad owned a store you worked in it, if your father was a coal miner you were along side him pretty early on in life. This Donna Reed existence that everyone thinks of as the fifties and sixties was an exception. It largely came about because the rest of the world was still rebuilding from the two world wars or suffering under the morass of communism. The US was the only major country that still had it's infrastructure intact because the wars weren't fought on our soil.