U.S. Housing Market 1968: Sales, Prices & Rates

In 1968, the U.S. housing market recorded existing-home sales averaged 1.55 million, new-construction sales of 490K, and a median existing-home price of $20,100.

Year over year, new-home sales rose 0.6%.

By the numbers — 1968: new-home sales 490K, existing-home sales 1.55M, median existing price $20,100.

Macroeconomic Context

1968 was a year of national crisis. Real GDP grew 4.9%, but CPI inflation jumped to 4.2%, the highest reading since the Korean War. The Tet Offensive in January shook public confidence in the Vietnam War. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in April; Robert Kennedy in June. The Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August saw violent clashes between police and antiwar protesters. President Johnson, in March, declined to run for re-election. Richard Nixon won the November election. The federal funds rate averaged 5.7% as the Fed continued tightening. Congress passed the Fair Housing Act in April, prohibiting discrimination in housing sales, rentals, and financing — a long-overdue federal response to the redlining and racial covenants that had shaped American suburbia.

The Mortgage & Credit Market

30-year fixed mortgage rates climbed to roughly 6.8% by year-end. The Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 split Fannie Mae into a privately-owned but federally-chartered company (today's Fannie Mae) and Ginnie Mae, the Government National Mortgage Association, which would issue the first agency mortgage-backed security in 1970. The Act also expanded FHA Section 235 (interest subsidies for low-income buyers) and created Section 236 (rental subsidies). The post-war S&L-dominated mortgage system was beginning its slow transition to the modern securitized model.

Cycle Position

New-home sales held steady at 490,000. Crucially, 1968 is the first year of the NAR existing-home sales series — 1.55M existing transactions were tracked, establishing the federal benchmark we still use today. The median new home reached $24,700, and the median existing home was $20,100 — figures that would seem quaint by 2024 ($458K and $408K). Total tracked U.S. sales of new-plus-existing homes reached roughly 2.0 million for the first time.

The Year in Long View

Existing-home sales of 1.55M in 1968 represented 22% of the all-time annual peak (7.08M in 2005). New-home sales of 490K were 38% of the 2005 record (1,283K) and 160% of the absolute series low (306K in 2011). Combined U.S. home sales of 2.04M ran 24% of the 2005 all-time peak (8.36M total). Within the 1963s, the 1968 reading sat 0% above the decade average of 1.55M existing-home transactions per year. The median existing-home price of $20,100 translates to roughly $181,478 in 2024 dollars — about 45% of 2024's $407,500 record in real terms. Buyers in 1968 were not paying anything close to today's inflation-adjusted prices. Against the median U.S. household income of $7,743, the price-to-income ratio worked out to 2.6× — compared with 2024's all-time-high reading of 5.4×, which marks the most stretched affordability in the modern record. Mortgage rates pre-1971 are not part of the modern Freddie Mac PMMS series. Historical FHA and VA records put the prevailing 30-year fixed rate around 5.5–6.0% in the early 1960s, climbing toward 7–8% by 1971 — modest by every standard set after the 1973 oil shock and still well below the 2024 reading of 6.72%. Year-over-year, new-home sales rose 0.6%. Looking forward to 1969: existing sales would rise 0.0% to 1.55M.

The Buyer's Math: What $20,100 Bought in 1968

Down payment requirements on the median existing home in 1968 ranged from $1,005 at 5% down (FHA-style minimums) to $2,010 at 10% down (conventional floor) to $4,020 at the 20% threshold that avoids private mortgage insurance. With 20% down financed at the prevailing 6.83% 30-year rate, the principal-and-interest payment on the remaining $16,080 loan worked out to roughly $105 per month. Against the nearest-available median U.S. household income ($7,743 in 1968), that payment consumed about 16% of pre-tax monthly earnings — before property taxes, homeowners insurance, or maintenance. Over the full 30-year amortization, the buyer would pay roughly $21,774 in cumulative interest on top of the original principal. In 2024 dollars, the same purchase represents approximately $36,296 down and $949 per month — a useful translation for buyers comparing the 1968 entry point against today's affordability constraints. Pre-1971 rates are approximated from Federal Home Loan Bank Board annual averages, which preceded the modern Freddie Mac PMMS series.

Where 1968 Ranks in the 1963s

Within the 1963–1969 window, 1968's readings stack up as follows: existing-home sales hit the decade's high at 1.55M; new-home sales ranked 4 of 7 years in the decade (decade peak 575K in 1965, trough 448K in 1969); the median existing-home price marked the decade's low at $20,100. The decade ranking is a tighter frame than the full 1963–2024 history and helps separate cyclical noise from structural shifts — a year that ranks mid-pack within its decade is often more representative of the period's typical conditions than the decade's extremes.

Nominal vs Real-Terms Trajectory

Tracking existing-home median price growth in nominal dollars overstates the buyer's real-world wealth gain whenever inflation runs hot, and understates it when inflation is subdued. Compounded annual growth rates around 1968: 5-year change (1963–1968): +2.2%/yr nominal vs -0.4%/yr real. The five-year real-terms reading was roughly flat — housing tracked general inflation, neither lifting nor eroding owner purchasing power.

Sources & Methodology

The 1968 figures on this page come from three federal data sources: the U.S. Census Bureau Survey of Construction (annual new single-family home sales), the National Association of Realtors Existing Home Sales report (annual existing-home transactions and median sale prices), and the Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey (annual average 30-year fixed mortgage rate). Recession bands are drawn from the National Bureau of Economic Research Business Cycle Dating Committee. Inflation adjustments use the Bureau of Labor Statistics' CPI-U series, and price-to-income ratios reference the Census Bureau's annual median U.S. household income table. Mortgage rates for years before 1971 are not part of the Freddie Mac PMMS series; approximate values for the 1960s are sourced from FHA and VA loan documentation and are noted only where contextually useful.

U.S. Housing Market in 1968