15% of your income

[SUPERSAIAN]

If I say in the context of my country, then in my country, there are different housing costs in villages and cities. I am a student, I pay tuition to cover my education and living expenses. Since I don't have a house in the city, I have to live in a rented house. Half of the money that is spent on my university tuition fees goes to renting my house. To be honest, our housing costs are much higher in the city. But in the villages, everyone has their own house, so everyone can stay in their own house. In that case, apart from the development of the house, there is no housing cost.

In my country, it varies even from city to city, but it's like that all over the world now the housing crisis is a reality. I don't know, maybe people living in big metropolises spend more than half of their income on rent and housing expenses. It's like they're working just to have a place to live, all the expenses go to housing, which is not at all satisfying and isn't even sustainable in the long run.

[Asuspawer09]

The lower for sure the better but around 20-30% probably should still be fine at tops if it was a huge house that you are paying, I think it's textbook if you can't pay your rent or your house with these kind of percentage of your income that just mean that you just can't afford to buy a house yet or rent one. Because paying a house with like 50% of your income is going to just destroy your finances, and it is going to make you suffer, surely going to dig you a deeper hole in a lot of debt because you just can't sustain these huge leaks in your finances.

Most of the people have different strategies on there budgets, but most of the people get pressured a lot of buying a house or renting because house are just status symbol now, we know that it is easier to buy a huge these days and you could easily buy one with a very little downpayment, but a huge monthly plus it might probably cost you 2x the house after paying it for 20-30years. Housing probably is going to be the biggest expense most of the time so we should keep it control over 15% of lower, I mean the numbers just dont lie to us, real estate agent might say that you can afford it since they are going to give it to you, or you are going to get approve on buying the house, but always run the numbers if you could actually pay it long term.

[Makus]

Have you considered the inflation and how bad the economy is? The price of houses is way higher than just 15 percent of what average earners make, unless you are focusing on people earning tens of millions because this isn't the case for everyone. Your statistical data on this is wrong and you need to recheck where you got this information from. In this time and age it costs people more than just 15 percent of what they earn to own a building or to rent, This is an outdated information perhaps you are talking about 10 to 15 years ago.

[Z_MBFM]

almost 10 years ago, i read that your rent or whatever you pay for your home should not exceed 15% of your monthly income. now in 2026, many reports are saying that there definitely is a housing crisis.

with some saying this could be worse than the 2008 crisis. do you still believe that only 15% of your income goes to rent or house expense? is housing expense your biggest expense monthly?

As time goes by, the amount of house rent is increasing, this is because the population is increasing and there is a housing crisis for people. In my country, the average income of a person is $200, but if someone wants to rent an average standard house, then his house rent will be $120, so what percentage is it here? It is about 60%. As time goes by, this issue will become more difficult for more people. Meanwhile, due to the land crisis, a person cannot easily own a house. And it will be more difficult in the coming days.

[Rockstarguy]

almost 10 years ago, i read that your rent or whatever you pay for your home should not exceed 15% of your monthly income. now in 2026, many reports are saying that there definitely is a housing crisis.

with some saying this could be worse than the 2008 crisis. do you still believe that only 15% of your income goes to rent or house expense? is housing expense your biggest expense monthly?

It is not everyone that earns this fine amount that can be able to afford such money from what they for house rent. Rent has become a serious problem and it one of the most expenses demands.  Since rent is on the high now, what i think people can do irrespective of what they earn to meet up is if they can be able to save some amount of money monthly and by the time it gets to the end of 12 months one must have realised some amount of money, these are for those who pay their rent annually. Many people starts making preparation for rent when the due time of the rent is near and it is very difficult.

[Smartvirus]

with some saying this could be worse than the 2008 crisis. do you still believe that only 15% of your income goes to rent or house expense? is housing expense your biggest expense monthly?

The advent of Real Estate as a business and the technology that surrounds the various housing and developments as we have it in our world today has contributed a lot to the steep and speedy rise in rent or affordable housing. There is no affordable housing anymore and there isn’t much of a policy in place that keeps this in check. Housing remains one of the basic and fundamental needs of a human but right now, it’s one of the very things that is as far from reach as possible to common individuals in the society and it would continue to be so if not checked. It’s not getting better but more and more worst by the day and would by far surpass 15%.

[Franctoshi]

almost 10 years ago, i read that your rent or whatever you pay for your home should not exceed 15% of your monthly income. now in 2026, many reports are saying that there definitely is a housing crisis.

with some saying this could be worse than the 2008 crisis. do you still believe that only 15% of your income goes to rent or house expense? is housing expense your biggest expense monthly?

Inflation is on the rise and price of houses have soared to its all-time highs and even worse than that of 2008 housing and financial crisis.
Now the problem is that as the prices are increasing, Our salaries have remained the same, Now tell me, how would 15% of your income be applied here? Since the salaries are not increasing with the increasing prices. We all can see how the price of houses and other things has soared and gone up about 3x-5x or even more than.

[Samlucky O]

with some saying this could be worse than the 2008 crisis. do you still believe that only 15% of your income goes to rent or house expense? is housing expense your biggest expense monthly?

House rent expenses is not my biggest challenge right now, and secondly I am not paying %15 of my income to any house rent. The place I am right now is less expensive compeard to that %15. It might even be as low as %7 of my income. I don't know about others but I can't go to a place that is much expensive to the extent of affecting my income.

[Abiky]

almost 10 years ago, i read that your rent or whatever you pay for your home should not exceed 15% of your monthly income. now in 2026, many reports are saying that there definitely is a housing crisis.

with some saying this could be worse than the 2008 crisis. do you still believe that only 15% of your income goes to rent or house expense? is housing expense your biggest expense monthly?

The problem here is the FED won't lower rates (aka rate cuts). As long as interest rates remain high, don't expect housing costs to improve anytime soon. While I don't have any housing expenses, I know several friends and family members that do. Saving 15% of your income nowadays, is not enough to be able to pay for housing. The costs are simply too high to bear. Same goes with buying a new car.

I've read that several US states are planning to eliminate the "property tax", so Americans might be able to experience a slight relief in housing. I can't say the same about other countries. The situation could be worse in other countries. Hopefully, we'll see "light at the end of the tunnel" as central banks begin to cut rates in-mass. The ECB is way ahead in this. We'll see if the FED will follow suit...

[SquallLeonhart]

If I say in the context of my country, then in my country, there are different housing costs in villages and cities. I am a student, I pay tuition to cover my education and living expenses. Since I don't have a house in the city, I have to live in a rented house. Half of the money that is spent on my university tuition fees goes to renting my house. To be honest, our housing costs are much higher in the city. But in the villages, everyone has their own house, so everyone can stay in their own house. In that case, apart from the development of the house, there is no housing cost.

This is why in many parts of the world, there is a reverse immigration these days. Back in the day , like 20-30 years ago and more, people moved from rural small towns to cities because they were making a lot more money there.

However, even though city still pays more than rural jobs, these days the cost of living in a big crowded city is a lot more, and that means while you may make more, it is not enough and you still can't afford to live there. Whereas in a rural area you make much less, but you can actually sustain and costs are much lower. Housing is still a problem for many people, but if you take a out a loan now, you would have more than 15% of your income going to mortgage today, in 5 years, not so much, in 10 years, it would be negligible.

[KiaKia]

It varies, countries based and cities to cities, but truth is life becomes unfair when almost all the money you made is for settling bills and rents, it's like you are only working to have a roof over your head.

I don't pray for such life, some people don't just think, I will only do this if I it's benefiting me somehow, maybe on my sales business or customers, apart from this I am ready to live in a less costly environment.

I have met some weird people as well that things it's beneficial if you live close to where rich people are living, they claimed you will easily get connection and stuff but they have forgotten that rich people know themselves and mostly only help themselves too.

Working on yourself in a not so good looking environment is better, it will even remind you of your mission everyday you wake up, there will be no room for relentless.

[Zigabel]

almost 10 years ago, i read that your rent or whatever you pay for your home should not exceed 15% of your monthly income. now in 2026, many reports are saying that there definitely is a housing crisis.

with some saying this could be worse than the 2008 crisis. do you still believe that only 15% of your income goes to rent or house expense? is housing expense your biggest expense monthly?

More than 15% actually goes for my rent and house expenses, this thing may some how be peculiar to some regions as against the other.  There are places where housing and Real estate is very expensive and in some, it is affordable, meanwhile others could be relatively cheap.  There are also stages you get to in live and certain accommodation needs arise, a single person and a married couple has got different accommodation needs, all of these factors put together adds to it and makes the price high that sometimes 15% of your income is not just enough.  I forgot to mention that your income too is another factor as relative to the cost of living and housing in your country, all of these has contributed to why currently 15% is no longer enough, especially in my case.

[slapper]

How much your housing cost influences who you are. Not just financially but as an individual in making decisions about their own life. When you are spending an absurd chunk of the money you make just to have a place to sleep, you stop making decisions from a place of what you actually want. You begin making choices out of a place of what they can still afford after rent. And those are totally different psychological states.

The 15% thing, I think it was kind of aspirational all along. Even back then. A thing to point to so that the advice felt grounded, numerical, trustworthy.

What gets me is the normalization. We got to a stage where people just accept that one bedroom places cost what they cost, shrug and work out how to make it work. There's not that collective anger that's sustained to be able to change anything. Just individual adaptation, and over and over. 2008 had a moment. People were furious. There was at least a cultural recognition that there was a breaking. What we have now does not have that moment.

And the saddest part, maybe, is that when you spend a majority of your money just to be in a space. You lose the financial margin to build anything. Savings, investment, risk, all it requires slack in the system and the system has no slack.

15% was never real. It was a number of a world that priced most people out before they had a chance to participate.

[HelliumZ]

My monthly salary is spent on my children's education, and 40% of the salary I get is spent on my house rent. And it becomes very tough to maintain my family with the money that is left. Moreover, the standard of living in the city where I live is very high and at the end of the month, with my salary, there is no money left to pay house rent and tuition fees for my children. But there is nothing to be done because the monthly salary does not increase, but the standard of living and the prices of daily necessities are increasing. That is why it has become very difficult for employees like the lower and middle class to pay house rent.

[KingsDen]

with some saying this could be worse than the 2008 crisis. do you still believe that only 15% of your income goes to rent or house expense? is housing expense your biggest expense monthly?

The advent of Real Estate as a business and the technology that surrounds the various housing and developments as we have it in our world today has contributed a lot to the steep and speedy rise in rent or affordable housing. There is no affordable housing anymore and there isn’t much of a policy in place that keeps this in check. Housing remains one of the basic and fundamental needs of a human but right now, it’s one of the very things that is as far from reach as possible to common individuals in the society and it would continue to be so if not checked. It’s not getting better but more and more worst by the day and would by far surpass 15%.

I agree with you that the real estate revolution has really rearranged the status quo. However,
A modest person;
Living in a modest environment;
And earning pretty well could still keep to the 15% rule, especially in my country where rents are paid yearly.
In Nigeria, you can still get a good apartment if $1500 per year. That is below $100 monthly. This can constitute 15% of someone's yearly earning.
Anyways, there are still rents of $5000 and above yearly, it all depends on location.
So, with planning, the 15% alleged rule could be practiced.

[Pi-network314159]

with some saying this could be worse than the 2008 crisis. do you still believe that only 15% of your income goes to rent or house expense? is housing expense your biggest expense monthly?

With the economic inflation right now, I don't even think house rent is even a problem right now, but feeding. Feeding or family consumption takes a bigger part of a man's income. It even takes above the proclaimed  %15 of income allocation. Feeding takes almost %40 of an average man's salary. But although it depends on the salary. Why I said feeding is the problem now is because many family are not leaving in a rented apartment, but in their family houses or are even squatting, but no matter how it is, you as a human must eat and there comes where your expenses go.

[retreat]

almost 10 years ago, i read that your rent or whatever you pay for your home should not exceed 15% of your monthly income. now in 2026, many reports are saying that there definitely is a housing crisis.

with some saying this could be worse than the 2008 crisis. do you still believe that only 15% of your income goes to rent or house expense? is housing expense your biggest expense monthly?

Even if it was 10 years ago, I don't think you could still afford to pay 15% of your income just for rent - it was probably much higher than that - let alone in this day and age with inflation rising and people finding it increasingly difficult to afford the increasingly expensive living expenses, which makes housing expenses continue to grow, you might be paying a quarter of your salary for it, even half for some people. And especially with many property owners now who have no brains to raise their rents at will, it can make the burden of paying rent even greater for many people. But I'm just speaking in general, since people's circumstances are different, some have higher incomes, maybe they pay less than that.

[Hanadawa]

Have you considered the inflation and how bad the economy is? The price of houses is way higher than just 15 percent of what average earners make, unless you are focusing on people earning tens of millions because this isn't the case for everyone. Your statistical data on this is wrong and you need to recheck where you got this information from. In this time and age it costs people more than just 15 percent of what they earn to own a building or to rent, This is an outdated information perhaps you are talking about 10 to 15 years ago.

The current global inflation rate is not in line with the average worker's or employee's salary. In my country, the minimum wage (UMR) increases by around 1-2% per year, but inflation can rise to 10-15% per year. I don't believe the government's claim that inflation only increases by around 2-3% per year. The reality is that if you pay around $100 per month for rent this year, in the next two or three years the price could be around $120-$150 per year. But salaries only increase by a maximum of around 2% per year. This is what makes a person's ability to own assets decrease every year. And I worry that in the future, only 1% of people in the world will own property and land, and the rest will only be able to rent. The current economic system is moving in that direction. I'm reminded of the words "you own nothing but you are happy" from a YouTube video predicting that in the future, people will only be able to rent. And only the super-rich will be able to own property.

[viljy]

If we ignore the details (high cost of housing, inflation), then everything that happens can be described as the consequences of over concentration of wealth. If nothing changes (or no one tries to change the trend), then in the end mass production will disappear altogether, as well as the economy as a whole, and even money will disappear as unnecessary.

Because the world will look like the one described by H. G. Wells in The Time Machine, with one difference: the superrich will have AI-controlled security robots. Sooner or later, AI will break down and there will be no one to fix it (there are no engineers, scientists, or even locksmiths left, because the superrich only trust AI). Then the angry and hungry beggars from the dungeons will devour all the superrich alive. The end of the story.
The danger of increasing inequality has long been noted by reputable authors (e.g. T. Piketty, J. Stiglitz)