Authored by Mary Prenon via The Epoch Times,
Stealers Wheel's 1973 hit "Stuck in the Middle with You" could well become the theme song for today's middle-income, first-time home buyers who don't qualify for affordable housing programs yet cannot afford market-rate homes.
The current housing shortage suggests pent-up demand is building among young homebuyers. Andrey_Popov/ShutterstockThe household income required to purchase a starter home, currently priced under $350,000 in the United States, has surged more than 80 percent to $78,000 from $43,000 in 2019, according to a July 20 report from Realtor.com.
By contrast, the median household income was $83,730 in 2024, representing an increase of under 22 percent from $68,703 in 2019, according to the latest Census Bureau estimates.
This gap in growth between home prices and household incomes has made it increasingly difficult for even middle-income households to own a home, real estate professionals, economists, and recent research say.
Caught In The Middle
Vlora Sejdi, an associate broker with HomeSmart in White Plains, New York, recently told The Epoch Times about the challenges her young clients face in buying a home.
She is currently working with a childless couple under 40 who are living with parents while saving for a down payment on a home in Westchester County, an affluent suburb north of New York City, which had a median home price of $867,398 in May, according to Redfin.
"Home prices here just keep going up and
