Give Boris Some Credit

[Mottie]

So you didn't buy a house when you could get them for a song?

You could never get houses for a 'song'. It’s always been relevant. I can honestly say that I or none of my mates ever bought a council house at a discount. We all bought our own and yes, they were comparatively cheaper than they are today (we paid £28,500 for out first house in 1984) but wages were a lot lower then too. Our house was a real stretch to pay for, more so when my wife gave up work for about 10 years to raise our children. Our biggest mortgage was £50k when we moved to this house and it seems unbelievable (to us anyway) that our daughter and her boyfriend, with a substantial deposit, are looking to take out a near £600k mortgage to move out of their flat into a house - a nothing special run of the mill house in North London at that too. Well, that was the plan before Covid put the kybosh on it.

 

[IT Minion]

You could never get houses for a 'song'. It’s always been relevant. I can honestly say that I or none of my mates ever bought a council house at a discount. We all bought our own and yes, they were comparatively cheaper than they are today (we paid £28,500 for out first house in 1984) but wages were a lot lower then too. Our house was a real stretch to pay for, more so when my wife gave up work for about 10 years to raise our children. Our biggest mortgage was £50k when we moved to this house and it seems unbelievable (to us anyway) that our daughter and her boyfriend, with a substantial deposit, are looking to take out a near £600k mortgage to move out of their flat into a house - a nothing special run of the mill house in North London at that too. Well, that was the plan before Covid put the kybosh on it.

So pulling some rough numbers you were being paid around £3,000 a year at that point? (Assuming that average house price to average salary were the same then as now)

 

[ajohn]

So you didn't buy a house when you could get them for a song?

That's a bit of a joke. Buying a house has never been that easy for all but a few.

1974 wages

1980 wages

Those are unlike what they dish out today are real figures. Then there has been house price crashes - those can be interesting. Around 1980 is the time when buying a house it might be a good idea having 2 wage earners paying for it. Expectations of what people expect in a house have changed. People also buy many things that were not available and want designer clothes as well. What has also happened is the end of lease hold properties. The best I could have managed in my 20's was a flat in a block and wouldn't have had much of a life for a number of years due to paying the mortgage on it. Inflation would have eased the burden eventually. Move way out of B'ham and I might have managed a recent house. Maybe a small older terraced in some parts of B'ham.

 

[crystal ball]

Don't forget the tax relief we enjoyed on our mortgages, one guy I knew hardly paid any tax due to the massive mortgage he had

 

[fillyboy]

In the late 70's there was a big swing toward house ownership but with historical interest rates around 10% it certainly required 2 wage earners, most of our furniture came from second hand places, we briefly had a cardboard box as a coffee table.

 

[Brigadier]

I didnt buy until the mid - 90s.
Three bed semi, nothing flash.
Even with a 15% deposit, the mortgage alone was two thirds of my basic. Overtime was for survival, rather than pleasantries.
Minion is lucky, privileged, spoilt, lying, trolling. Perhaps all of them.

 

[fillyboy]

Don't forget the tax relief we enjoyed on our mortgages, one guy I knew hardly paid any tax due to the massive mortgage he had

And interest paid by the Govt if you became unemployed.

 

[Brigadier]

Unless you're pulling my p!sser, I must have missed out on those beauties.

 

[fillyboy]

Unless you're pulling my p!sser, I must have missed out on those beauties.

Cardboard box or mortgage paid if unemployed?

 

[crystal ball]

In the late 70's there was a big swing toward house ownership but with historical interest rates around 10% it certainly required 2 wage earners, most of our furniture came from second hand places, we briefly had a cardboard box as a coffee table.

You were lucky we had a table made from toilet roll middles and we were grateful, all our furniture was second hand but we bought some kitchen units from Status, went with a mate who had a trailer

 

[crystal ball]

Unless you're pulling my p!sser, I must have missed out on those beauties.

By mid 90s it had all gone

 

[Mottie]

In the late 70's there was a big swing toward house ownership but with historical interest rates around 10% it certainly required 2 wage earners, most of our furniture came from second hand places, we briefly had a cardboard box as a coffee table.

Apart from our bed, absolutely EVERYTHING in out first house was secondhand - carpets, curtains, furniture, cooker, fridge, telly etc etc and the house we bought was so rotten, we had to live upstairs for a whole year while I had the floors, walls, ceilings, doors, windows, wiring, kitchen and downstairs bathroom replaced as well as having heating installed. I can’t honestly say any first time buyers nowdays would put up with that - let alone a mobile phone and a car each, a telly in every room, gym membership and a couple of holidays a year!

 

[Mottie]

Minion is lucky, privileged, spoilt, lying, trolling. Perhaps all of them.

I’d guess at just the last two.

 

[Brigadier]

IIRC, I got miras for a few months, and again IIRC, married persons allowance went up the swannie pretty soon into my home ownership foray too.....

 

[fillyboy]

Apart from our bed, absolutely EVERYTHING in out first house was secondhand - carpets, curtains, furniture, cooker, fridge, telly etc etc and the house we bought was so rotten, we had to live upstairs for a whole year while I had the floors, walls, ceilings, doors, windows, wiring, kitchen and downstairs bathroom replaced as well as having heating installed. I can’t honestly say any first time buyers nowdays would put up with that - let alone a mobile phone and a car each, a telly in every room and a couple of holidays a year!

They don't know their born mate.