Housing Bubble 2: Return of the Ugly

That's not what he said. He said in a conversation that 40k wouldn't hypothetically be a down payment 35 years ago. I didn't say housing is cool today, I said that the conversation he had 35 years ago was very atypical and housing wasn't impossible to afford until relatively recently. No, the experience of Gen X 20-30 years ago shouldn't be compared to the experience of today as if they were the same.