Half of Americans cannot afford their houses, according to data cited by MarketWatch. A new survey carried out by Hart Research Associates found 52 percent of Americans have had to make at least one major sacrifice in the past three years in order to maintain their mortgage or rent payment.

Those sacrifices included getting a second job, not saving for retirement, cutting back on healthcare, incurring credit card debt or moving to a worse neighborhood, MarketWatch said.

About 43 percent participating in the survey said owning a home is no longer “an excellent long-term investment and one of the best ways for people to build wealth and assets,” and more than 50 percent said buying a home has become less appealing.

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In the wake of the 2008 housing crash, more than 7.5 million homeowners lost their home to foreclosure or short sale and about 9 million homeowners are still underwater and owe more than their property is worth, according to Daren Blomquist, vice president at real estate data firm RealtyTrac.

“If one looks at the last seven years as a predictor of housing market behavior in the future, it certainly should give one pause about whether buying a home is a good investment or not,” Blomquist said.

The financial blog Peak Prosperity said data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows the median price of a single-family home has now recovered to a level just above pre-2008 crash levels. However, that median incorporates some heated housing markets such as San Francisco and New York that could help skew the numbers.

In fact, actual new home sales and housing starts are currently near half-century lows, Peak Prosperity reported, while the numbers of new mortgage applications are near their 2009 bottom.

“How can this be? What we see at present with new home sales and construction starts is what we saw at the depths of every U.S. recession of the last 50 years. These data points suggest that the current is anything but a normal housing recovery,” the blog said.

Peak Prosperity concluded U.S. housing prices have resumed their pre-crash median levels because of massive stimulus from the Federal Reserve, global flows of capital (i.e., foreign money buying American residential real estate) and bids from institutional investors who have entered the residential market.

CNBC reported U.S. mortgage rates fell last week, but so did applications for refinances and home purchase loans.

“It begs the question, why are more Americans not taking advantage of lower rates to buy homes? The answer may be that many people are struggling with their personal finances,” CNBC said.

CNBC concluded that the Hart Research survey “found that while the public may believe the housing crisis is improving, many respondents do not feel personal relief with their monthly housing costs: Seven in 10 believe the U.S. housing market is still in the middle of the crisis or that the worst is yet to come.”

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