A segment on NPR claimed that the average ratio of income to home value is about 5x around the country these last 5 years (Not median, average.)

So keep that in mind to help understand who's buying these houses. I think secret is that most of those homes have out here have two incomes around the 129 range you're quoting. Then the numbers make sense with the 5x figure (10x / 2) and the finances. But that's definitely not most people.

Some real anecdotal data, some of my old science grad school friends are now in that salary range, and when two of those people pair up, they're suddenly in that 5x range. But they're, of course, not the majority of people who want to buy homes. And Boston is still pretty fucking crazy expensive in that sense.