| Chart of the Day |
| OCTOBER 18, 2026 |
COST OF LIVING • HOUSING |
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| The Monthly Mortgage on a Median Home Just Hit $2,313. In 2021, It Was $1,164. |
| The payment doubled, but your paycheck didn’t. |
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| Monthly principal and interest on a median-priced existing home, 20% down, 30-year fixed rate. |
| Source: Freddie Mac, National Association of Realtors, 2026 |
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| You could have bought a median-priced home in 2021 for $1,164 a month. Not rent. Buy. A 30-year fixed mortgage, 20% down, principal and interest... $1,164. |
| Today, that same deal... same terms, similar home... costs $2,313 a month. The payment doubled. Not over a generation. Over five years. |
| Most people blame the price tag. And sure, the median home went from $347,000 to about $420,000. A 21% jump. But that’s not where most of the damage came from. |
| Look at the rate. In 2021, you could lock in a 30-year fixed under 3%. Today, Freddie Mac’s average sits at 7.4%. On the same $420,000 home, that rate jump adds over $900 a month to your payment. The price increase adds about $245. Rates did nearly four times the damage that prices did. |
| And here’s the part that really gets me. Median household income is around $87,460. At $2,313 a month, the mortgage alone eats 32% of gross pay. The old lender guideline was 28%. We blew past that four years ago. |
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