A 1950 single family house was 1000 square foot AND it had 3 or more bedrooms (I’ve seen up to 5). A 1000 square foot condo built today is 1 bedroom, not at all built for a family.

The difference? Basements don’t count toward square footage.

As for cost on existing old homes, they’re expensive today because there are so few of them and they’re in demand. That proves my point.

US population in 1950 was 151 million. Today it’s 342 million. Yet if you look at the data, housing construction has been flat since 1968.