What Barbie’s Dreamhouse Says About Your Future (and Economic Growth)

Are you on a career path to keep pace with the price of Barbie’s Dreamhouse? In the Malibu market the average price of a home in 1962 — which is when Mattel debuted the Barbie Dreamhouse — was $77,537. A “Barbie-style” house means one with three stories, single-car garage, elevator (yeah, OK, my legs hurt some days) , three bedrooms, two full bathrooms, living room, kitchen, and patio space with a pool. At that time an average house price was $18,000. So Barbie’s Dreamhouse was four times the price of an average home in 1962. In terms of affordability, the average professional income in 1962 — and Barbie was variously a doctor, astronaut, detective… — was $9,000. A rule-of-thumb for housing affordability is to keep a house purchase to <a href="https://www.longtermtrends.net/home-price-median-annual-income-ratio/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">five times</a> your annual income. A professional in 1972 could have afforded a $45,000 house. It’s a bit of a reach from $77,537; she would have been short by about 40%. It would be do-able if she got a boost from her parents (George and Margret, who were never released as dolls), or was perhaps sharing the house with Ken (who was just a friend, although his reluctance to put a ring on her <a href="https://time.com/6296386/barbie-ken-history/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">led them to split up</a> though remain friends). The average American house price today is $410,000. To reach the 1962 Dreamhouse equivalent multiple you would need four times that, or $1.6-million. Today, however, according to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/barbie-dreamhouse-cost-in-real-life-2023-7?utm_medium=newsletter&email=barry.gander%40i-valley.ca&x=4165030d70975bb0679b02ad827bd8e0f0b4a830935f2bed8db9d72da6227a42&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_campaign=Insider+Today%2C+July+27%2C+2023&utm_term=INSIDER+TODAY+SEND+LIST+-+ALL+ENGAGED" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Insider</a>, it would actually cost $2,807,328 to buy the Dreamhouse — a 3,521% increase. Barbie’s mansion, BTW, has seen the most appreciation during the past three years. <a href="https://barry-gander.medium.com/what-barbies-dreamhouse-says-about-your-future-and-economic-growth-d25465d4337">Learn More</a>