TL;DR: Americans now need to make $120K a year to afford a typical middle-class life and qualify to purchase a home. Minimum.
TL;DR: Americans now need to make $120K a year to afford a typical middle-class life and qualify to purchase a home. Minimum.
Yeah we’re likely talking past each other a bit. Also, unlike most cities where multiunit buildings will include 3 br or more units, DC just doesn’t. It’s entirely possible to have kids and live in a condo or commie block style housing, a lot of the world does it. But all those places also account for the fact that needs change and sometimes people need more space. Removing 3 br units from the market decreases housing supply and increases the rental supply. Basically the city is turning into a renter’s market because, unsurprisingly, no one wants to buy half a house for double the price. So rental companies will come in and buy those two unit buildings to convert into rental properties and in the process remove supply. It’s a very fucked up system.
Fun fact: in a lot of places, 3+ bedroom apartments are rare mostly because of excessive minimum parking requirements (e.g. “1 space per bedroom”) that will never get used, but makes them uneconomical to build.