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Who Can Afford a $250K, $500K, $1M, and $2M House in 2026?

Humphrey Yang

361,180 views

In this video, I walk through what it really takes to afford a house in 2026 at all different price points. I hope this helps!

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WHO AM I?
Hello 👋 I’m Humphrey, I used to be a financial advisor, worked in gaming/tech, and started my own eCommerce business. I make practical, rational content on investing, personal finance, the news, and much more with a data-backed approach. My goal is to help you with financial literacy and creating wealth.

PS: I am no longer a current Financial Advisor, any investment commentary are my opinions only. Some of the links in this description are affiliate links that I do receive a commission for & they help support the channel!

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⏱️ Timestamps:
0:00 - Start Here
0:36 - 28/36 Rule
2:05 - 30% Rule
4:21 - $250K Home
6:23 - $500K Home
8:31 - $1M Home
10:52 - $2M Home
12:30 - Takeaways

20 Comments

@humphrey Creator 5 months ago Pinned

Hi all! Welcome back to another episode. I do want to first say I'm sorry for all the spam and scam comments in the comment section. It's something that I actively work to try to purge and expunge but unfortunately these comments just keep popping up again. I've already talked to YouTube about it but they have a really hard time, apparently, cleaning them up.

If you see one, just know that they lead to nowhere. I really wish that the comment section was more organic but I'll just continue to work on keeping it clean.

In personal news I am going to a hummus dinner tonight and just enjoying my time in San Francisco. The weather is quite nice and I'll have some more content for you next week! Cheers, Humphrey. ❤

@dinobutt 5 months ago

I should’ve bought a house instead of trading Pokémon cards when I was 6.

@freeman_fundamentals 5 months ago

“Alright so that was the 250k house. Now let’s double it & look at a 500k house.”
No… Let me just stop you there chief…

@brantkensinger3398 5 months ago

What a shame. I make 75k alone and that is not even enough for a 250k house to live comfortably. And I am an engineer. This housing affordability crisis is absolutely wild.

@darkerisbetter8699 5 months ago

I find this depressing for the dual income family.

If your partner wants to raise children or someone loses a job, you’re hosed.

@kylereed3093 5 months ago

Once you broke down the 250k house. I just stopped watching there. Check back in., in 5years or so

@CalmerThanYouAre1 5 months ago

Can’t believe he didn’t cover the $3M option. My search for affordability advice continues…

@blast4898 5 months ago

The insane part about all this is 250k is already an extreme struggle for many folks. Myself included lol.

@thpenguinmonkey 5 months ago

Summary: Gen z won't ever own a house

@chrishobbs2093 2 months ago

13:05 "what i want you to take away from this video, its not fear or dread" I feared and dreaded when i heard the numbers for the 250k house

@QuantumVaultYT 5 months ago

The shift from the bank's 28/36 rule to the 30% Net Income rule is the most important takeaway here. Lenders care about getting paid, but they don't care if you have enough left for groceries or retirement. In 2026, the gap between 'qualified' and 'affordable' has never been wider. Especially the point about the $500k house needing $10k net monthly — that’s a reality check for many dual-income households. Financial intelligence starts with running your own numbers, not letting a bank’s algorithm decide your lifestyle. Great update, Humphrey!

@louissoto1529 5 months ago

Why no one ever mentions closing cost which is a scam .

@abradford9424 5 months ago

In my area a $250k house will be either mostly destroyed or need serious renovations to make it livable. You generally also will find those homes in bad areas (high crime, low city maintenance, etc).

The housing market these days is a joke. I don’t know how anyone expects to live in a nice-ish house in a decent neighborhood without a six-figure job and getting help from your family on the down payment.

@gary_guy 5 months ago

Not only would 30% down payment be tough, but a home that’s no more than 3x gross annual salary? That’s brutal

@Lonedude1111 5 months ago

At this point, I should just set up a tent in my parents’ backyard and move in with my family. 😅😐

@tellis2014 3 months ago

6:12 and that’s where I check out. Yall have a good rest of 2026

@nical9701 5 months ago (edited)

Most new home buyers are not putting 20% down, I see all these videos saying 20% is normal. Its 3-5% is the average

@NAH6589 2 months ago

@9:29 lol a little uncomfortable... only %5 percent of households can afford a million dollar home and Zillow came out with an article saying 242 cities now have STARTER homes priced at $1million dollars. This is more than uncomfortable.

@gregvarga5064 5 months ago

This is so depressing, live in Vancouver Canada, average one bed one bath apartment is 550k, we’re so cooked

@derekgoderis2349 5 months ago

As someone who just went throw this. I would say adding your pre tax deductions to your net helped me out a lot in understanding what I actually wanted to afford vs what the bank told me I could afford.