And in the same time period, the average house size has doubled from 1300sqft to 2600 sqft. So people are paying about twice as much for twice the house.
But that 1300sqft was average. Which meant a lot of homes were smaller than that. My brother once owned a 600 sqft detached house from that era.
I live in Texas where they don't build houses with basements because the soil won't support it. First place I lived was a typical working class family home built in the 1940s: 2 bed, 1 bath, kitchen, living room, laundry room - 1100 square feet total.
Meanwhile most new construction homes here are over 2000 square foot.