What was the main driver of the 300%+ house price rise from the mid 80s to mid 00s

SingleSue

lostinrates wrote: »

Some very old fashioned girls still do/did. Mostly..in my limited experience, its linens...sheets, table clothes embroidered at school, pieces sewn my your mother, grandmother, great grandmother,...that you'll never use but get out and smile over. Pretty house additions that aren't s necessary...the odd picture frame of a deceased great aunt. A washing machine could well have been more useful. My ''bottom drawer'' is actully in a tin trunk in storage. Don't thinkI've seen it since before I was engaged.:o

My bottom drawer consisted of a pair of posh knickers from Selfridges, a Basque (again from Selfridges) and errrr...that was it!

baileysbattlebus

bo_drinker wrote: »

Didn't girls start a "bottom drawer" before they met a bloke. My parents bought their 1st house for about £2500 in the 70s.

Yes they did, linens and stuff like that, I didn't because I was NEVER going to get married and have children - funny old world isn't it - I was married at 21 and the urge to procreate came about 4 years later.

Interesting about housing prices - I dug out the deeds (copy) of our house at the weekend - it was built in 1966 buy a local builder and the cost new then was £5,600 - so on 17th January 1966 this house was transferred to it's first owner for £5,600, and I think the average wage was less than a £1k - I think it was £17 or £18 per week - so someone on an average wage could not have bought this house when it was new.

Also what people have to remember regarding 2 income families now - there were some jobs in the 1960's where you sill had to leave on marriage and you more than likey would have left work when you had a child - you wouldn't have had an option - there were no maternity rights, you had no right to return to work etc - that is probably why there are a lot more dual income families now - because the woman has a choice.

Just looked the Nationwide index - and the average price for new house in 1966 was £4k - so our house was above average price and the average for all houses it was about £3.5k.

In 1975, when we married the average house cost £10.9k - which actually ties in with my memory £9k for houses.

And for the 1970's during Ted Heath's premiership

The Government’s Budget (The Barber Boom) and the freeing up of the consumer credit industry contributed to the sudden rise in inflation and high wage demands. December 1973 saw the introduction of the 3 Day working week. House Price Inflation rose sharply and peaked in 1973 at over 36% per annum, a level never before seen in the UK (nor indeed seen since).

Which I suppose is why if you bought in the early 1970's your house would have been much cheaper than if you were buying in 1975 - when we were looking. House prices doubled between 1971 and 1973 - that passed us by, I don't actually remeber that - but I was a teenager and used to like music and going out - not the news or current affairs.

ukcarper

I did buy in mid 1972 and would not have been able to buy in late 1972 house price increased by over 25% between May and December

baileysbattlebus

ukcarper wrote: »

I did buy in mid 1972 and would not have been able to buy in late 1972 house price increased by over 25% between May and December

We couldn't afford to buy at all in 1975 - or we probably could have managed a small flat - with the probability of a mortgage rentention until the necessary work had been completed. And as we were not competant diy'ers then - we would have needed tradesmen to do the work - so it was out of the question.

It was actually 1982 before we were in a position to buy and the only reason we could buy then was because the Conservatives gave public sector workers a fairly hefty payrise, their pay had fallen quite a long way behind due to wages policies etc, OH worked for the Civil Aviation Authority and got around a 30% payrise.

the_ash_and_the_oak

increased availability of credit

driver for prices in 70s different to driver for prices in 00s w wage inflation playing a much smaller role in 00s imo

ukcarper

True but wage inflation didn’t account for all of rise

IveSeenTheLight

carolt wrote: »

7-10 years out of a working life isn't that much. 7-10 years out of a mortgage is quite a lot - esp as it's usually nearer the beginning than the end of the mortgage period. That's why the long-standing rule (3 x single, or 2.5 x single, and 1 x second income), was used and why it worked. My mum earned more than my dad, when they bought, but I never heard her clamouring to be put on the mortgage so she could buy the same house for 3 times the price. :rolleyes:

There are always exceptions to the rule.
As you are in your mid thirties (IIRC), I very much doubt the norm was two income families back then, expecially where the women earned more than the man.
I'm sure you can recall that the standard of living in general was far poorer then than today.

carolt wrote: »

Maybe you're happy working full-time and are not bothered about spending time with your son. Most parents I know would prefer to be able to work less hours and spend more time with their families, than have a larger mortgage to pay off. Men or women.

I am happy to work full time and benefit from an era where flexible working is far more available than for generations gone by.
I definately do enjoy spending time with my son and again manage to do this to a far greater time than in generations gone past.
On top of flexible hours (9 day fortnight and oppertunities to work from home), this year I had 30 annual holidays and 17 public holidays. I presume much better than the current worker average and definately far greater than for the generations gone past.

We live in an era where it is easier for the second parent to see their child more often than for previous generations.

IveSeenTheLight

edgex wrote: »

but then what about all those that are 'adults' now & dont/wont have children?

Agree, there are many people who don't want to have children, but is that less than previously.

edgex wrote: »

& what about the likelyhood that we move much more towards a continental style of family life, where children stay at home till much later in life? the assumption that as soon as somone turns 18 they become a householder is already incorrect, & is likely to become ever rarer.

I am not assuming that as soon as somone turns 18 they become a householder. My point was that they would be adding to the quantity of people who would like to become either home owners or renters.

Heres a graph from (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1352)that shows current population by age and the estimate increase, therefore the likelyhood of demand for homeownership or as renters is likely to increase, not become rarer as you suggest

IveSeenTheLight

edgex wrote: »

students are more likely to be living in purpose built accommodation as opposed to renting a house - less householders again
after graduation, a lot more are having to move back in with parents, due to the costs of going to uni now - less householders again

Not sure on that.
This year alone, I've read reports that there is not enough student accomodation with students being put up in hotels.
There is certainly an increase in demand for student accomodation.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8280951.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/8380428.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/8286344.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/6992199.stm

IveSeenTheLight

edgex wrote: »

net migration - that can be quite short term, as seen recently with many polish people returning to poland as their economy improved, & demand in the uk reduced.

Where is the facts for this?
Certainly when looking at the facts it seems that net migration is still positive.

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/CCI/nugget.asp?id=260