Young Long Islanders face steeper home prices with lower wages

It’s much harder for young Long Island adults to strike out on their own than it was for their parents, Newsday reported. Wages have dropped by 22 percent while home prices have climbed 150 percent, according to a study from the Long Island Association. In 2016, Long Islanders between 25 and 34 earned an average of $40,000 a year. In 1970, numbers adjusted for inflation show the median salary was $51,458. At that same time, the median home price was under $180,000, but that’s since leaped up to $450,000 in 2017. Those numbers have kept Long Islanders at home with their parents, with only about 36.5 percent of them either renting or buying their own home. That’s down from 86 percent in 1970. “We need to make sure that we are not putting any roadblocks in the way of millennials who are trying to get their own place,” said Kevin Law of the Long Island Association. [Newsday]