The price of housing is based on people’s ability to pay for it. The desire to own a house is so strong that people will make huge life changes to afford it. I think this buying power of a two-income couple is a major incentive for marriage. But it’s a race to the bottom: couples get married because single people can’t afford houses; single people can’t afford houses because couples are buying them.

Cultural desire for the actual ritual of marriage has decreased as desire to own a house has increased. Market timing adds an urgency to house buying while there’s no obvious time to get married. So now common-law couples buy houses together. Building a home together is a similar commitment to building a family together:

• a shared mortgage forces financial interdependence
• consequences of a split are just as serious as a divorce
• the community recognizes the sanctity of joint ownership
• housewarming parties are like wedding receptions