eli5 – Why is the cost of housing so high compared to wages?

Question

I see charts from the 1960’s – 2000 showing wages keeping up with the cost of housing. Then there’s a huge boom in housing cost. What factors caused the price to jump so high? Is it only the low interest rates, or did something else happen?

For example: [https://imgur.com/a/8HWIlqx](https://imgur.com/a/8HWIlqx)

Edit:

This guys just uploaded a video today answering the question I posted. He says a lot of the same things that you guys said too[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL9DBjfhWAE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL9DBjfhWAE)

In: 50

Answer 1

Either buy a smaller house of move to a city where the cost of living is lower.

Average home size in the early 1950s was under 1000 sq ft. Now it’s about 2500 sq ft.

I live in a city with a very high cost of living and 1000 sq ft homes are over $1 million.