What your money actually measures.
A home’s price tag is told in dollars. But a dollar is a moving ruler. Measure the same house in hours of work and in gold and a different story appears: much of what looks like a housing boom is really the ruler shrinking.
The median American home, in three rulers.
Each line is the median U.S. home price divided by a different measure of value, indexed to 100 in 2013. In dollars it soars; in hours of work it barely moves.
Median sale price of U.S. homes (FRED MSPUS) divided by average hourly earnings (FRED CES0500000003) and by the World Bank gold price. Indexed to 100 at 2013.
In dollars the house looks far more expensive. But priced in hours of work it has barely budged, and priced in gold it has actually fallen. The house didn’t gain value so much as the dollar lost it - the ruler shrank.
Hours of work to cover the monthly mortgage, 2013 to today
Hours of work to cover one month of principal and interest on the median home at 90% loan-to-value, at that year’s average 30-year fixed rate.
Monthly principal & interest on the median home (FRED MSPUS) at 90% LTV and the average 30-year fixed rate (FRED MORTGAGE30US), divided by average hourly earnings (FRED CES0500000003).
Shelter vs. the cost of living
Since 2013, the overall cost of living (CPI, all items) is up about 42%, while shelter specifically is up about 59% - housing led the climb. Yet the real squeeze on the monthly payment came from rates, not price: when rates jumped, the hours needed to cover a month’s mortgage spiked even though the home hadn’t changed.
A fixed mortgage is a bet against your own currency: you lock the payment today and repay it with dollars that are worth a little less every year, against a real asset that isn’t. Debasement quietly erodes the renter’s ground while it lightens the owner’s debt. That asymmetry - same force, opposite sign - is the quiet edge of owning.
How many years of income a Franklin County home costs.
The median Franklin County sale price divided by the county’s median household income, year by year. Bars darken as the multiple climbs.
Franklin County median sale price (Columbus Pulse MLS series) ÷ median household income (FRED MHIOH39049A052NCEN), by year.
A Franklin County home cost about 2.5xthe median household’s income in 2013; by 2024 it took 4.0x. Incomes did rise over that span - from about $51k to $77k - but prices ran faster, so the home swallows more years of pay than it used to.
The way a home gets paid for changes completely as the price climbs.
Share of closed Central Ohio sales by financing type, across five price bands.
| CONV | FHA | VA | CASH | OTHER | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Under $200k | 38.5 | 16.0 | 2.8 | 37.7 | 5.1 |
| $200-300k | 54.4 | 20.8 | 6.3 | 15.5 | 3.1 |
| $300-400k | 63.9 | 13.5 | 7.2 | 14.3 | 1.2 |
| $400-600k | 69.9 | 9.3 | 5.7 | 14.4 | 0.7 |
| $600k+ | 72.1 | 0.7 | 3.7 | 22.7 | 0.8 |
Conventional deepens straight up the ladder, from 40% of the cheapest homes to 72% of the priciest. FHA peaks in one place - 21% in the $200-300k entry-move-up band - then fades to almost nothing at the top. Cash is a barbell: heavy at the bottom where investors buy, thin through the middle, heavy again at the top where it is wealth rather than leverage.
Closed single-family sales across the 20-county Central Ohio market, trailing 90 days, from MLS BuyerFinancing. Rows sum to 100% across financing types.
The numbers that changed, who gained leverage, and the strongest submarkets across Central Ohio. One email each Monday.
One email each Monday. Unsubscribe anytime.