To buy or not to buy?

If you want to buy a house this year, you may well be paying around $199,200, the median price for a home in the U.S., according to Zillow.

That number might be lower if you if live somewhere like Ohio or Michigan, but if you happen to reside in a large coastal city such as New York or San Francisco, that number will be a lot higher. In fact, it could cost you well over $1 million to purchase a home.

Houses weren't always this expensive. In 1940, the median home value in the U.S. was just $2,938. In 1980, it was $47,200, and by 2000, it had risen to $119,600. Even adjusted for inflation, the median home price in 1940 would only have been $30,600 in 2000 dollars, according to data from the U.S. Census.

Here's how much the median home value in the U.S. has changed between 1940 and 2000:

1940: $2,938
1950: $7,354
1960: $11,900
1970: $17,000
1980: $47,200
1990: $79,100
2000: $119,600


Read more at CNBC