system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How has the previous generation “ruined the housing market” for millennials?

ELI5: As a millennial, I keep hearing people blaming the baby boomers for ruining the housing market. Can someone explain how exactly they did this?
gpt
The short answer, we don’t make as much money as they did.
Slightly longer answer: US household median income in 1970 was $9,780 which has a buying power of $64,700 in today’s money. The current median US wage is 61,800, about $3,000 less or effectively 5% less money available per year than they did.
Next, median home sale price in 1970 was $23,600 or $155k in today’s dollars. The median sale price in Jan 2018 was $330k; double what they were paying ‘back in the day.’
So, you have to spend on average 25-50% more money to get a home with 5-10% less money.
This is all due to wage stagnation relative to productivity and inflation. Or otherwise said, wages did not keep up with the cost of goods and your dollar just doesn’t go as far.