Economist analyzes "Home Alone": The houses you live in are not cheap at all

The Christmas holiday is coming, just like we have a must-see movie for the Chinese New Year, Europe and the United States also have a list of Christmas movies, including the classic "Home Alone". Recently, an economist analyzed the house where the protagonist of this classic movie lived and said that the protagonist Kevin's family is "not ordinary."

The New York Times interviewed Federal Reserve economists and professionals to understand the economic situation of Kevin's McAllister family. Based on the facts in the film - a large mansion in a leafy community, exclusive trips to Paris, etc. - the experts analyzed that this family may belong to the top 1%.

According to Realtor.com, the house used in the movie is located on Lincoln Avenue in Winnetka, a suburb of Chicago, one of the wealthiest communities in the U.S. This view is supported by an analysis by three economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, which included household income, property values, mortgage rates, taxes and insurance in the area in 1990 (when the movie takes place) and 2022.

“Assuming the McAllisters don’t spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing, the economists also determined that a family earning $305,000 in 1990 could afford the house ($665,000 in 2022),” the Times reported.

"Based on estimates from Zillow for the house in Home Alone, a similar home could cost about $2.4 million by mid-2022. That would be affordable to a household making $730,000, which would put them in the top 1% of Chicago households."

So, the protagonist of "Home Alone" has a super rich family, no wonder the two stupid thieves targeted their house.

So, the next question is: How did the guys in "Friends" afford to rent such a spacious apartment in New York City, where housing prices are so expensive?