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I might have just stumbled over part of why more people are finding it difficult to get on the property ladder. Yes, houses are more expensive, but there’s another factor, methinks:

SUVs. Big, honkin’ SUVS.

In reading an article by the AP reporting the auto market is seeing a shift in new car sales of vehicles in the $20-$30,000 range, my eyes went out on stalks. As you might know, I’ve never owned a new car in my life because I find it silly to spend thousands for an item that severely depreciates as soon as it’s driven off the lot. Besides, that ‘new car smell’ is nothing more than carcinogenic chemicals you’re blissfully taking in.

(Now, a ‘new horse smell’ is divine. And that odor is just repurposed grass…)

I digress…My eyes popped out because before this new trend of buying new cars in a far more reasonable bracket, the average SUV being purchased by Americans was $47,000. Forty-seven thousand smackers. And we’re not talking cash buyers—we’re talking people cheerfully coughing up payments anywhere from $700-$900 per month for about six years at 5 to 7% interest—according to Edmunds.com.

Forty-seven grand. There’s your house downpayment right there. On a decent house. Add student loans and credit card debt, and…well, you may want to consider a doublewide. Rented.

I’m unsure when or why the fascination with expensive, enormous SUVs began. I want to blame The Sopranos because millions adored that show, and Tony drove a giant burgundy Suburban for the early seasons before upgrading to another behemoth, an Escalade. Just Tony at the wheel, getting two blocks to the gallon and being followed by his very own hole in the ozone. Of course, Tony could afford his ride and paid cold, hard cash. He had to commit nefarious acts (allegedly) to get that cash, but he was smarter than to be perpetually underwater in a car loan.

People say they need big SUVs because they have kids. I say my mom dragged her four chimps, along with the week’s groceries, around in a used Rambler. Agreed—she deserved combat pay in those days of cloth diapers and no screens to throw in front of our faces to keep us stupefied and quiet, but she did it. And that modest house my dad built was paid off early.

Yes, I’m aware that things are far different now. Or maybe not…Maybe there are simply more choices and far more Joneses with whom we feel the need to keep up.