Lower wages compared to previous generations + insane housing prices = anyone with half a brain is going to realize they can't afford to bring a child into the world.
They can afford it. They simply refuse to sacrifice their current standard of living for it. This is a problem that has plagued prosperous urban societies for since ancient times;
Writing in The Histories, Greek historian Polybius, largely blamed the decline of the Hellenistic world on low fertility rates. He asserted that while protracted wars and deadly epidemics were absent, people were generally more interested in "show and money and the pleasures of an idle life" rather than marrying and raising children. Those who did have children, he said, had no more than one or two, with the express intention of "leaving them well off or bringing them up in extravagant luxury."
They can afford it. They simply refuse to sacrifice their current standard of living for it. This is a problem that has plagued prosperous urban societies for since ancient times;
Writing in The Histories, Greek historian Polybius, largely blamed the decline of the Hellenistic world on low fertility rates. He asserted that while protracted wars and deadly epidemics were absent, people were generally more interested in "show and money and the pleasures of an idle life" rather than marrying and raising children. Those who did have children, he said, had no more than one or two, with the express intention of "leaving them well off or bringing them up in extravagant luxury."