If you bought your house since 1979 I have attached a list of the relevant interest rates....

[EllenWaiteourkid]

Bank of England base rate 1979-2017

Bank rate at year end (%)*
1979 17

1980 14

1981 14.375

1982 10

1983 9.0625

1984 9.5

1985 11.375

1986 10.875

1987 8.375

1988 12.875

1989 14.875

1990 13.875

1991 10.375

1992 6.875

1993 5.375

1994 6.125

1995 6.375

1996 5.9375

1997 7.25

1998 6.25

1999 5.5

2000 6

2001 4

2002 4

2003 3.75

2004 4.75

2005 4.5

2006 5

2007 5.5

2008 2

2009 0.5

2010 0.5

2011 0.5
2012 0.5
2013 0.5
2014 0.5
2015 0.5
2016 0.25
2017 0.5
2018 0.75
2020 0.25
2020 0.10
2021 0.25
2022 0.5
2022 0.75

We purchased in 1991 and then years later moved north/south never a good idea financially 🙄and quadrupled our mortgage, the baby that it looked like we were never going to have came along after ten years, so that was us down to one salary.

They were ummmmmmmm interesting times, so that is why when some people in our social circle think we are on the pigs back I make no apologies for being finally financially secure.

In fact the rest of the article is quite interesting.

www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk/analysis/historical-interest-rates-uk/

The key point being that you were able to buy a house in the South on one salary

We bought our first house in 1978, moved to our current house in 1994 and paid off the mortgage in 2009.

Trust us to miss out! 😂.

I do vividly recall the huge interest rates of the late 70's/early 80's though and we had a huge hike about a year after we married in 1979.
God knows how we managed but we did thank God!

And to point out, those are the BoE base rate, at one point in 1989 our mortgage rate was 15.75%, more than one of our wages.

Oooh I haven’t heard ‘On the pig’s back’ in donkey’s

I@Reallybadidea sorry to disabuse you, we had secured it on two full time salaries and then had to pay it out of one, we were proper broke for a long time.

I’m not sure what point you’re making. Yes, interest rates were higher in the past but house prices were also a lot lower and it was possible to buy on one fairly average salary. Every generation has had it better in some ways and worse in others.

We were paying 75%of my husbands income on the mortgage alone at one point for a couple of years. I worked any hours I could that fitted round him as no childcare available or family help And our child had SEN so I had few options working anyway. We struggled massively to survive and hold onto our home.
And yet apparently we had it all handed to us on a plate and had it so easy according to lots of people on a fb thread that was ripping into my generation .
Every generation faces its struggles and challenges.

It's only part of the story though other than interest in savings being less. House prices in that time have risen to unaffordable levels, in 1979 the average house price was less than £20k, in 2022 its more than £200k.

Pay and inflation have not tracked well over that time either. As evidenced by OP being able to buy a property in the south on one salary.

Interest rates alone aren't enough to give any indication of the financial state.

My father in law and I have this conversation frequently:
Him: 5% is nothing..... we paid nearly 20% when the boys were little...,
Me: But house prices were significantly lower then. We could never afford a large house in [naice town in S of England] now, especially with childcare costs.
Him: Well, childcare was your choice *
Me: Yes, but we wouldn't get a mortgage based on one salary.....

*this is ridiculous, he'd been badgering for a grandson to play cricket for Yorkshire for years. Happily DS was born in Yorkshire, although DD is the cricketer.

what was the average house price though??!

My parents bought in 1985 for around £30k, conservative estimates now £320k

ILs bought for £55k, estimated now £1.3m

wages have not risen at the same rate. I’m not saying your choices were easy but today those choices are not even on the table.

House prices as a multiple of average earnings have gone from about 4x in the 90s to over 8x today. Apart from a few blips like world wars and short lived global stock market crashes, the last time housing was so unaffordable for your average person were the 1800s.

Interesting OP, thanks for posting that.

My father in law and I have this conversation frequently:
Him: 5% is nothing..... we paid nearly 20% when the boys were little...,
Me: But house prices were significantly lower then. We could never afford a large house in [naice town in S of England] now, especially with childcare costs.
Him: Well, childcare was your choice *
Me: Yes, but we wouldn't get a mortgage based on one salary.....

We have exactly that same conversation with my FIL. Even down to "children are a lifestyle choice". They have a completely selective memory.

I bought my first house on a very average salary. It was me and my partner, when we sold it, 13 years later. We would have needed both of our salaries to then buy the same house and we'd both had promotions in that time.

Yes, I saw that from your OP. You managed to pay it on one salary though whilst having the luxury of being a SAHM. I doubt many could do the same today.

You also had the benefit of non-means tested child benefit and once Labour came into power, there were tax credits.

I don't resent people of your generation their good fortune (and let's be clear, it's lucky that house prices rose rather than skill or judgement on your part), just don't try and make out like you struggled harder than anyone before or since. Cos you didn't.

No, that’s not true.

we could borrow a multiple of 3 x the larger salary + the second.
We only managed to buy a 2 bed terrace because my father stood guarantor for the mortgage which was slightly over the maximum we were “allowed” to borrow

This.

Theres no way you can argue that housing was more expensive back then.

Now list the house price/average income multiplier for each of these years! 🌟

There was MIRAS as well.

I mean…

“we could borrow a multiple of 3 x the larger salary + the second.”

This says it all. These days couples need multiples of 4-4.5 of both their salaries to get on the ladder.

I’m amazed that people STILL need to be told that.

The increase in interest rates will have an effect that is in no comparison to the 1980s. And apparently it was really bad…

@Wouldloveanother that graph is really shocking. I knew the multiple had increased substantially but that is crazy.

Between 1988 and 1994, I worked in a building society as a cashier. I have vivid memories of the almost daily occurrence of customers coming in to hand over their keys because their house was being repossessed, or because repossession was inevitable and they were just walking away from it. Mortgage interest rates were as high as 15.4%. Although I was working over 200 miles away from where I went to high school, one of those customers was someone I had been to school with - out of respect, I pretended not to know who he was.

Which means nowadays, you would still be renting instead….