Condo. 900 square feet. My second home was a 1,200 square foot home on a 6,000 sq ft lot that was built 30 years previously…Kauffmann and Broad built thousands of them. We lived in those two homes for 10 years.

Your examples sound Utah/Idaho centric and you forgot the double digit interest rates for a decade in the 80’s. Affordability wasn’t much different 40 years ago, just a lot more of a can do attitude knowing you cut out everything to own a home. Many neglected their retirement savings because it wasn’t really emphasized. Many still thought pensions would be around. Agree on the rest of your points

95% of it is just attitude. Oh yeah, Buy land. They’re not making more of it. That is the one constant.