Roughly when did one salary stop being enough to comfortably sustain an average family?

[keswickgirl]

I realise there won’t be one exact year of course. All I know is that my dad bought a very nice 4 bedroomed house on a headteacher’s salary in the early 90s, my mum didn't work and my sister and I had very comfortable childhoods. UK holiday every year and abroad every few years. Pets, dancing, swimming, piano, tennis lessons.

30 years later, it’s such a different story. Roughly when did things change?

Property is more expensive but most other things are cheaper. In the 1980s and early 1990s My mum didn't work for a salary but she worked with my dad on the farm they ran - so I suppose it was essentially one salary.

We never went hungry but we also rented one TV, wore hand me down clothes, had rackety old second hand cars, only went on holiday in the UK - usually staying with family or a few days appended on to a business trip of my dads.

Exactly. People always overlook population growth and increased competition for resources in a global economy.

Most of my friends' mums had 'little jobs' when we were growing up- hairdressing, sewing, shop or bar work around their husbands ' jobs at evenings and weekends.

In my case, it didn't mean we had anything extra- it just meant they were able to pay the bills and take us for a day out once a year. This was the 80s. Mum got a full time job when we were teens.

We both work full time in professional jobs. No cleaner, no new cars, 1 holiday a year. We do have the 4 bed house, but there's only 1 bathroom. I grew up thinking teachers were rich. And relative to my parents, they were. Not now though.

@thankyounextplease
That definitely tallies with my personal experience.

I do think the smart phones thing is a red herring though. They are multi purpose devices so cheap when you think about it. Mine cost £300 and I lay £14 pm - but it is a camera, music player, payment device, computer, small TV, radio, phone etc... a bargain really.

You’re looking at it the wrong way round. House prices started going up when women started working more and banks took their earnings into consideration for mortgage affordability. Couples were able to offer more and out-bid buyers with a single income. Which is the main driving force for house price increases when there is a limited supply of housing on a small island like ours.

Housing costs are predicated on supply and demand. We don't have enough housing for our current population, so the price of houses has rocketed and most households need 2 wages to pay for housing needs. If a family splits up, they need 2 houses instead of 1. Not enough small flats for retired people to move into, so sometimes a very elderly widow / widower occupies a house big enough for a family of 5. Immigration numbers (both legal and illegal) have shot up. If we keep on building on green sites, our country will be changed beyond all recognition.

I strongly feel that mortgages should be restricted to 3x main salary. House prices would have to fall, and most people would have much more of their budget left for discretionary expenditure. Having so much of our economy tied up in housing is not a good thing.

I bought my first house on my own in 1996. A good sized three bed terrace with large front and back garden, for £48k just a tiny bit further up than would be classed as the SE.

My salary was £16k and I put down a £3k deposit. Mortgage was £281 a month. I took home about £1k per month and managed fine.

Had my first DC 2 years later, DH brought in around £1250 a month and we could have survived fine - if I hadn’t gone back to work so paid most of my salary into nursery fees, and we hadn’t had 3. more DC and upsized houses!

My grandparents bought a house on just my grandfathers salary in Dulwich Village in the 40s.That house is now worth over £1.5m. My parents bought their house on just my dad's wage - now worth about £600k. They paid £14k for it in 1968.
I bought my first house with now exH in 1997 for £63k and sold it seven years later for £165k. Bought next house in 2004 for £215k. Sold it on divorce in 2020 for £525k..
My neice and nephew have both bought houses before 30. But with partners, dual income, in good jobs. My daughter is buying this year but with her partner. No way would she be able to buy alone, despite having a £50k deposit and a decent job.

My mum went to work when we went to secondary school, about 81s, she also went to uni at the same time.

My mum and I survived on one salary in the 80s and 90s (I finished school in 1998). Admittedly, she was an accountant with a good corporate job, plus took on some extra part time work. But she afforded private school from start to finish. I had a horse she paid livery for. I went on all the school trips. We had nice holidays. We lived in a small rented house though and we didn’t have new clothes or a new car or those sort of things. We definitely survived very well on one income but I think it’s because she got her foot in the door professionally in the 70s and clung on because she desired social mobility and a ‘naice’ lifestyle.

Ps. Neither my grandmother, nor my mother were on the mortgage/deeds as they didn't have jobs outside of the home..Wrong isn't it.
I also have a friend whose mum had to give up working as a teacher when she married?!

My mum didn’t work until I was in my teens, so we lived off just one wage I don’t think we lived comfortably though, we managed to go on a UK holiday once a year, and maybe have a takeaway every now and then but they struggled to afford things like school trips or Christmas, so they were in a lot of debt. This was in the 00’s.

I would say in the last 20 years it’s become very difficult for young adults to buy a house on one salary without help from their parents.

I don't think it's anything like as simple as 'you used to be able to live well on one salary and now you can't.'
In the 80s one of my parents had a decently paid job (primary deputy head) and the other worked in retail (shopfloor) and sometimes factories for lower wages. I remember the worry when my lower-earning parent lost their job and it was some time before they found a new one. Even a pretty good wage was not enough on its own even then, and it was only my parents and me in the house. We barely had holidays (a week in a caravan somewhere grim in the UK if we were lucky), very cheap clothes if any, food from cheap supermarkets and cash and carries et cetera.

Bought our first house in 1988 and mortgage rates were 14-15% for a couple of years. Both had to work with a young family, in the early 90’s so I think your parents maybe weren’t too “typical”. It pays off eventually, but lots of years of hard slog for most people bringing up young children. Agree cost of living extortionate at the moment - don’t envy young people starting out.

My husband earns just over £60k and I don’t work for health reasons.

We live a 4 bed house, we have a UK holiday each year and both me and DH, as well as our children can afford to have hobbies. We aren’t counting pennies by the end of the month and we are still able to put money in savings each month for us and the children.

We certainly don’t live a lavish lifestyle but we are comfortable.

We had to make sacrifices on our lifestyle when I had to give up work (3 years ago) but I still feel we have a nice and comfortable lifestyle.

In 1986 I was a PA on a reasonable salary but nothing earth shattering. I was leaving a marriage and I actually had a fair selection of little houses that I could have got a mortgage for on my own wages. I remember going to look at one, it was tiny and sort of dug into the hillside with no garden, but two bedrooms and very cute inside.

In the end I went into a houseshare with a friend who was also single. Eventually moved in with man who is now another XH(!) who bought his own house on his single salary (also not huge).

My parents always blamed it on the rules changing to allow banks to lend on joint income for mortgages. I think that happened in the seventies. It was supposed to make it easier for people to buy houses but it actually just meant the prices went up!

House prices are ridiculous. Between DH and I we have a comfortable income but wouldnt be able to get a mortgage to buy our own terraced house at its current value!

Mid 90s to 2000 I had my children was a SAHM for years. We weren't comfortably off though and DH worked weekends too. A 3 bed house was about £100,000 now in the £400,000s

This

I grew up in the 60s and 70s. My Dad was an accountant and my Mum a secretary. They both always worked and couldn't afford to buy. They bought their first house in the early 1980s when it became affordable with a Right to Buy discount. We never had foreign holidays and rarely holidays in this country.
My grandparents (born around 1900) also always rented and both worked, even when the children were babies.
So, my answer would be never. Outside a few professions, it was never possible to survive on one income. It's a myth.

As a child in the late 80s half of my friends had 2 working parents. So the tipping point must have been round then. The better off the family was, the more likely Mum was at home until the kids went to college.
I've never been able to afford to rent on my own since 2000 when I left college (disclaimer in expensive cities). A SAHM is a luxury now.

i was born mid-1970s and my parents both worked full time to pay the mortgage. That was in London though.