How much do people spend on their houses?

Question

What do you think the average american adult spends on their home in relation to their salary?

ex:

Home costs about two years salary.

Answer 1

My finace and i just bought our first house. We are 22 and 23 just starting out so our house was more like 4 years salary. It depends on someones needs. If you want to live in a safe neighborhood its going to cost you! Resale value is much easier when it's time to upgrade tho.

I guess since the average time people live in a house is 5 years, it's not that big of a deal.

Answer 2

Payments should be no more than 30% of your income to have an effective budget. Ideally your annual salary and cost of home should be pretty close

Answer 3

My home was about 3 times my salary, but I put 20% down, so my loan was about 2.5x.  After 3 years of a 30, I refi'd at lower interest for 20 years.

Initial 2002 monthly payment/tax/insurance was about 1/3rd of my gross, but is now 24%.  That is about 2 weeks net pay, but that is because I am contributing 22% to 401k and extra withholding for IRA to Roth IRA conversions.  Being car loan free for 10 years helps.