QUESTION: In the MeasuringWorth website, in what category would land prices fall? Just doing the Commodity real value exchange doesn’t seem to factor in the skyrocketing New York City real estate prices in the 19th century, which is my concern.
ANSWER: As we try to explain, questions of relative worth depend on the context. If you were talking about land prices today, what would you be comparing them to? Would it be the cost of a bundle of consumer goods? Probably not, so the same would apply to the 19th century as you suggest.
Those who I know that own or are looking to own in NYC these days think about two things, what the total monthly mortgage, tax, etc. payment will be (very dependent on interest rates), and the share that payment is of their income.
There are other ways of looking at the question that might use other indexes. You can check out our tutorials.