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 five times 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 led them to split up 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 Insider, 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.