"In the past, if you were middle class, it was almost assumed you would become a homeowner," says Ali Wolf, chief economist of the building consultancy Zonda. "Today, the aspiration is still there, but it is a lot more difficult. You have to be wealthy or lucky."
What buyers might forget is that it's never exactly been easy to buy a home. Mortgage rates recently hovering around the mid-6% mark might seem high compared with just a few years ago, when buyers could snag a loan in the 2% or 3% range. But these rates are lower than what they were for much of the 1990s, when they ran the gamut from mid-6% to more than 10%, according to Freddie Mac data.
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