Rent has soared as high as house prices. I moved to Colorado in 1982, made $10 an hour and $15 for each overtime hour. It was good money in those days. With overtime I was making $30,000 a year. I got a nice/furnished two bedroom apartment for $300 a month, $3,600 a year.
My annual rent came out to be 12% of my annual salary. Today, the same apartment rents for $2,000 a month or $24,000 a year. In order for that to be 12% of my annual salary, I'd have to be making $200,000 per year. Think about that!!!!!!!!!!
That just shows how rents have soared and why renters can't afford to buy houses.
PS Personally, I have no solution to this problem nor do I know what has caused this problem. I have family members, with both spouses working and no kids, and they can't afford to save anything at all.