Housing Cost Explorer
Colombia & USA · real prices, measured in minimum-wage salaries
Your plan to buy it
With your income and savings rate, how long until the keys?
Never at this pace: the home price grows faster than your savings, so the gap keeps widening. Save at least 42% of this income (or earn more return) to get there.
Both goals rise with home price growth (2.8%/yr) as you save — you are chasing a moving target.
Then vs. now
Pick a year and see if a minimum wage bought more house back then.
| Metric | Then · 2000 | Now · 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly minimum wage | $893 | $1,257 |
| Estimated price of this home | $165,300 | $415,000 |
| Salaries to buy it | 185 | 330 |
Minimum salaries needed to buy this home, by year
Historical prices estimated with the national used-housing price index (nominal); minimum wage is the official rate for each year.
How much have prices risen?
Pick any two years — the chart and averages follow your range.
Home prices vs. inflation · 2010 = 100
Price of this home over the years · 2010–2026
The real price discounts inflation (CPI): every year is expressed in 2010 money, so the two lines start together and the gap that opens up is exactly the accumulated inflation. Where the real line rises, housing got more expensive beyond inflation.
Housing vs. other investments
Same money, same years — housing (appreciation + rent) against stocks, fixed income and inflation.
After 15 years: housing $1.3M · stocks $1.7M · fixed income $803.1K
Real-life historical averages
- US home prices (FRED median): ~3.4%/yr (1990–2026); ~6%/yr in the 2012–2022 boom
- Gross rental yield US: ~4–7%/yr (≈5% typical)
- S&P 500 total return (1990–2026): ~10%/yr
- 12-month CDs (2024–2026): ~4–5%/yr · long-run T-bill average ~3%
- US inflation: ~2.6%/yr average (2000–2026), peak 9.1% in 2022
Educational comparison with constant average rates. Property costs (taxes, maintenance, vacancy) not modeled. Not investment advice.
Data sources & methodology
Colombia: official minimum wage decrees (1984–2026, incl. Decrees 1469/1470 of 2025 setting 2026 at $1,750,905 COP); price per m² from La Galería Inmobiliaria / Ciencuadras market reports (2026); historical prices approximate Banco de la República's used-housing price index (IPVU). USA: FRED median sales price (MSPUS), Zillow city typical values (2026), federal minimum wage history. Inflation: DANE CPI (Colombia) and BLS CPI-U (USA); "real" values are deflated with these indices and expressed in the money of the selected start year. All figures are averages for education, not appraisals.