I am constantly being told that it was much cheaper in relative terms to buy a first property in my youth than it is today. I refute this. I had no silver spoon, no money from parents, nothing.
My first flat cost £16K in 1981. 4 times my salary with 10% deposit. As I write this, the cheapest 1-bed flat in my area today is £130K with 10% deposit. That remains about 4 times the average wage. So what has changed?
I’m not saying it is easy for them but I was prepared to scrimp and save enough for a deposit. I don’t think this generation is. They refuse to go without holidays abroad, designer clothes, flash cars and socialising. The phase cake and eat it springs to mind.
The article I have linked to insists that property prices have gone up in proportion to salaries. My example above suggests otherwise but even if this is true living costs have gone down, especially food. Also, interest rates were much higher in the 80s. And the problem of jumping on the housing market is not recent, it goes back beyond the pandemic when they were virtually zero. They were moaning then.
A young couple I know tell me I had it easy back in the day, houses were virtually given away. They are surprised to learn I had to move 30+ miles away to get a start as the cheapest property in the area in which I was born and bred was 8 times my wage and unaffordable. The first mistake they make is to look at prices back then and think “that’s nothing” not realising we were earning a pittance. Their 2nd mistake is to scorn any notion of saving. Putting away even £100 a week would amount to a deposit on my above example within a few years, especially now with prices dropping. Give up Just Eat deliveries, costa coffees and the odd night out, buy good quality 2nd-hand clothes from charity shops and take staycations. Make just a few sacrifices and you’d be surprised at what you can achieve.
However, the MSM encourages people to wallow in self-pity, to create victims whilst upholding the myth that previous generations never had it so good. And this generation laps it all up.
Or do ISACers think I’m being too harsh? What do you think?
Nominated by Lord Helpus.