Are Houses Getting Cheaper?

Don Boudreaux, chairman of GMU's econ department writes:

Look only at the price of homes and the square footage of these homes: $65 per square foot in 1981 (in 1981 dollars) and $107 per square foot in 2005 (in 2005 dollars).  So if we convert the 1981 price into 2005 dollars, we find that the price per square foot of the newly built median-priced American house in 1981 was $140.

That is, on a square-footage basis, the real price of the newly built median-priced home today is about 25 percent lower than in 1981.

Read the whole thing.

I wonder how prices of starter homes in 1981 compare to what they are today?  Also, how would a trendline look of how housing prices vary in real terms on a square-foot basis?

According to Boudreaux's analysis, the reason homes seem more expensive today in real terms than 25 years ago is because people are buying much larger and much nicer homes than at any time in the past.  The corresponds with what I've seen of my friends who have bought homes.