This really does stems down to the lack of building something affordable, even in affordable cities. Most people have it in their heads they need something much

This really does stems down to the lack of building something affordable, even in affordable cities. Most people have it in their heads they need something much better/bigger than they actually do. Every new house built is larger than traditional smaller/starter homes. My 30-year-old 1200 sqft home isn't produced anymore here. I'd say, on average this has turned into a 1600 sqft, 3-car, multi-level (or more) home. New starter homes (in traditional terms) are really just for senior-age targeted clientele which forgo more bedrooms for a larger bedroom size (empty nesters target possibly?). We're having fewer and fewer kids (on average - I've got 3, which presents its own issues in the house hunt), but we're needing more and more square footage for everything. There's a slight adjustment for this by what seems to be a reduced lot size, but this is only marginal, and allows maybe one or two houses on the street than previous standard lot size 40-50 years ago. Every apartment complex that goes up has to be "posh" and include shopping underneath. (There's very little multi-family units going up, most are 30 years or older). Most of the rents for a 1 or 2 bedroom in these developments in already the cost of my 15-yr mortgage. This is just what I experience, but it seems relatively the same, in every suburb surrounding my relatively large city, including inside city limits itself.