> > In 1985, the average 30 year mortgage interest rate was 13.5%. > the point is that even after just 10 years you could've changed your interest rate to be j

> > In 1985, the average 30 year mortgage interest rate was 13.5%. > the point is that even after just 10 years you could've changed your interest rate to be just a third. That is not true. A third of 13.5% would be 4.5%. Mortgage interest didn't dip to those levels until around 2011-2012, by the time that 1985 mortgage would've just about paid off. Ten years after 1985 interest was still around 7.8% OP makes a great point in that one can't compare the price of a home from the past without looking at what the monthly payment would've been given the (often very high) interest rates of the time.