"Back in the day" they were like 13-18% but they were also like $80k. Lower interest rates is what drives up the cost of housing.

Calculating that: it’s about $1300/month, in 1996 dollars, which with inflation would be $2600 today. And you almost certainly refinanced in the 2000s when interest rates dropped like a stone. This is what my parents paid for the same neighborhood I live in.

Mine is $3600 and I “lucked out” with a 2.65% interest rate. The difference is mostly because the home values increased 10x in that time (vs. the 2x of inflation).

You take a short nap and suddenly everything is 40x more expensive...

Even my wages?

everything except that...