"Generation rent" - did ppl really marry in their 20s and buy a house?

Percy1983

N1AK wrote: »

You needed 40% of a single years wage for a home and you think you had it hard!? The average deposit last Jan was around £31k, well over 100% of the average wage...

The old 'youngsters with their new phones' meme just makes people look outdated. Every generation will have had comparative luxuries from the perspective of prior generations, be those luxuries indoor toilets, clothes that weren't made by mum or a mobile phone; having a couple of them doesn't make someone frivolous.

Don't forget we all have broadband too!

As you say its not in context, in adjusted terms we have 2 smart phones and landline and broadband for less my parents phone cost when they where my age.

The list goes on, compare a bluray player to a VCR compare a 40" LCD TV to a 24" colour CRT, technology has moved on and in short everything is a lot cheaper/more accessible.

Was having this conversation with my nephew, in short as the same age more or less the playstation 2 was released for me while the playstation 4 was release for him.

In the same terms I was still on a PS1 while he is still on a PS3, I got a 28" widescreen TV (CRT) for £250.00 while he got a 40" 1080p LCD for £210.

So by this logic as he is getting better games on a better TV for less money he should have to work a lot harder for a roof over his head?

tincans6

Percy1983 wrote: »

I do find it interesting that many of my parents generation were married in there early 20s, I shudder to think how bad my life would now be I was still with my girlfriend from my early 20s.

More interestingly I would say I met my now wife at a time where I had figured myself out and I haven't really changed since then, I was much less stable in my early 20s.

Like most of the affluent west, we have extended childhood / parental dependance for years. My parents generation left school at 16 (or 15), so my dad had done a 5 years apprenticeship and 2 years national service by the time he was 22.

I also meet no end of people a little older than me who went to sea at 16 (being from Liverpool). I'm not sure i'd trust my lad to take a rowing boat out in Sefton Park lake (or whatever local park lake). 50 years of age, so school leavers in 1980 is roughly the cut off for this.

One you had served your time, it was probably 2 years to save a deposit to buy a house.

slopemaster

ukcarper wrote: »

When I bought back in the seventies the majority of people had been in work 5 to 6 years at the age of 22 where now many are just entering work.

I think this could be the key factor?

zodzo

So what are you suggesting? That people who can't afford to buy should be executed?

:money:

tincans6

N1AK wrote: »

You needed 40% of a single years wage for a home and you think you had it hard!? The average deposit last Jan was around £31k, well over 100% of the average wage...

The old 'youngsters with their new phones' meme just makes people look outdated. Every generation will have had comparative luxuries from the perspective of prior generations, be those luxuries indoor toilets, clothes that weren't made by mum or a mobile phone; having a couple of them doesn't make someone frivolous.

Find me 1 young person who can mend their own clothes / cook cheaply / mend domestic stuff and not fritter money away on trivia & I will find you a 100 of my parents age who can do similar.

Like it or not, the older generation (my parents) is generally a lot more frugal.

slopemaster

lisyloo wrote: »

Plenty of people left school at 16 when I was young.

I left at 15.
My mother at 14.

GwylimT

My wife and I were 21 when we bought our first house, I was working as a mechanic, she had just finished university so she had two part time jobs one in a co-op the other as a cleaner in a school.

mystic_trev

Bought first House end of 1982 for £34,000 (would now cost £380,000 :eek:) aged 28. Retired 14 years later aged 42 :j

slopemaster

the_flying_pig wrote: »

Thanks, flying pig, that's fascinating.
The way the curve levels off at age 35 is interesting.

Certainly seems to show the 3 cohorts born around 75 / 80 / 85 buying progressively later.
Not nearly so clear with the 60 /65 / 70 cohorts though.

Do you have any figures for earlier cohorts?

Graham_Devon

BJV wrote: »

We bought our first house in 1996. The deposit we needed was £4000. My yearly wage was £10000. We saved, scrimped, no mobile phones, no new clothes, no nights out, no holidays for four years and finally we got it.

I doubt even 1% of the population had mobiles in 1996.

As for nights out, the number of people going out is dropping, and figures show this. As for holidays, no holidays for four years is also the norm for huge swathes of the UK.

What's not the norm now is to be able to save just 40% of your yearly wage and have a deposit.

As for the iphone thing, that's grand. However, many people back in the time you talk about were renting TVs, VCRs etc. It's all relative.

People suggest that people used to save instead of using credit cards. Granted, credit cards were less popular. But catologues anyone!? They allowed you to spread the costs of your items.....it just wasn't on a credit card. The peak of catalogue finance was 1998.