The median price of a new home in the United States has doubled in 10 years from $201,000 in 2011 to $407,000 in October 2021. The average price has also doubled from $250,000 to $480,000 in that decade. Not surprisingly, new home sales have stagnated and fallen since late 2019 as the great majority of households cannot afford what is for sale; sales in October were 23% lower than in October of the pandemic year 2020. Extreme unaffordability is back, and the “mortgage meltdown” is on the way.