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Comment by Aeolun | Hacker News Reader

Isn’t that a very reasonable salary to be buying a home on? Especially at the upper end of that range.

Homes in that area are about 10x that salary - so no. Reasonable ends at 3-4x your salary. I would be surprised if you could get a loan if you're taking a mortgage out that is 8x+ your salary... but maybe you can in France? Not in the US!

That is not true… only sea view apartments and houses do have incredibly high prices… otherwise you can find an apartment of 100m2 for prices ranging from 200k euros to 500k. Many homes with garden in the area range from 450k to a million (depending on the location). If as a couple the household income is 100k or more a year it is not difficult at all to get a mortgage. In France is very hard to get fired… there is a much higher job security… and since we have universal healthcare we don’t even risk to not be able to pay due to a medical emergency! For a bank is less risky to lend you money! Life here is good!

500k is getting close to 10x the salary.

If you are married or in a pax it is getting closer to 5x not 10x

Just as a counter-point, I live and work in London. I can't imagine ever being able to buy a home here unless something drastically changes, house prices are close to 10x my annual salary.

> house prices are close to 10x my annual salary

Plenty of people in the world save for 20 years for a house.

https://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Europe/price-gdp-per-cap

And historically houses have always been hovering around the same 20x multiplier for desirable places, except for a few small blips like the postwar boom.

And of course stuff like the American westward expansion, because land was dirt cheap as were materials (everything was forested so you just had to start chopping, more or less).

It is… most of my colleagues own a house or an apartment and we all have more or less the same salary!

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