To think these baby boomers are missing the point?

[Hundredacrewoods]

I grew up in an area where house prices have quadrupled since 2000. I consider this an intergenerational equity issue. Whenever the topic of house prices and 'millennials' comes up with my parents' generation, all I hear is how hard they worked and how much they sacrificed to get on the property ladder. AIBU to think that they're missing the point? No one is denying that they worked hard and sacrificed. The point is that if they worked just as hard today, and made the same sacrifices, it wouldn't be anywhere near enough.

Just the house prices to wages proove how easy it was for boomers to buy a house outright if they lived at home for many years, took a second job and didn't spend any money.

Then again logic, facts and accuracy isn't something many boomers here like to employ.

My parents bought their house in the mid 70s for around £3k. Yes wages were lower then. But the same house would be worth approx £120k currently. £120k would be doable for most couples surely? Back in the 70s it was generally a couple buying a house. Affordability, well because of interest rates I think the mortgage would be more affordable now. I think food relative to income is more affordable now, clothes the same. Fuel and rail fares are dearer agreed.

Of course when you parents bought that house they probably thought the people who bought five years earlier for £1,000 were lucky and yes house price inflation was that bad in the 70s.

%15 mortgages again, that was only for a short time and there was rapid wage inflation that made it very manageable along with far better job security.

Doesn't matter if house prices vary across the country, no matter where they are they were more affordable.

I worked with someone who decided to save up and buy outright. They married in 1969. They saved like mad and in 1972 couldn't afford the house they could have afforded in 1969 because it had increased by more than their savings.

Like I have said before boomers cover 20 plus years and there were ups and downs in that time.

%15 mortgages again, that was only for a short time and there was rapid wage inflation that made it very manageable along with far better job security. If we'd had crystal balls that struggle would have been so much easier. At the time we just had to get through it.

yes house price inflation was that bad in the 70s

Looking at the data, the spike started about 1995.

Depends where you are, some parts of the country are cheaper than others.

And yet, everywhere is more expensive than it used to be.

Depends when you are talking about.

Let’s say any time from 1945 onwards.

Depends if you just look at the price of the house or the cost of the mortgage, 16% mortgage made a big difference.

Why yes it certainly did, but low mortgage rates are not much comfort now if you can’t afford to get the mortgage in the first place!

I really can’t see why so many people have such a mental block about this. It is harder to buy a house now than it has been for generations. All “but some baby boomers lived in poverty”, “but I work with a young woman who spends a fortune on Starbucks and foreign holidays,” “but some millennials are loaded, look at Prince Harry!” changes that. And nobody is calling you lazy, really they’re not.

If i moved bk in parents i'd be charged rent anyway...rightly so but dosnt help trying to save.

I really can’t see why so many people have such a mental block about this.

They want to believe they worked harder and weren't just born at the right time and their very lifestyle is only possible by exploting the younger generations.

Really 1995? Well I must have imagined the boom in the early 70s. In 1971 we tried to buy a nice 3 bed semi with a garage, it was £5,000. We saved for a deposit and bought in 1973, the nice semi had doubled in price and we bought a run down 2 up 2 down for £5,200.

Timing is everything and the luck of picking the right area. My first house is now worth about £150k look on rightmove. We moved 2 years later, bought an unpopular house (lovely 4 bed Edwardian semi) in an unpopular area. We sold the first house for £7k bought the 2nd one for £9k. That type of house became popular and the area became trendy. According to rightmove it is worth half a million now. So a £2k difference in price in 1973 is now a £350k difference. That is the trouble with stats, you can prove all sorts if you pick your data.

Really 1995? Well I must have imagined the boom in the early 70s.

Just looking at the data. I am unsure about your individual experience.

I agree with the above poster completely that no one is trying to say that any generation before were not hard working. Just that the nature of the market has changed for today's youngsters.

53rd it isn't about a mental block. It is about it not being the same for everyone, not just a smooth line. One of my kids is 28 and living in an expensive city, not London but probably one of if not the most expensive city outside London and she has bought a house. People do manage it now, people did manage it then.

That is the trouble with stats, you can prove all sorts if you pick your data.

What must be confusing me is that every data source I look at shows the same thing.

Gosh I did imagine it then. I wish I had bought the nice semi that I just imagined had doubled in price. Silly me.

People do manage it now, people did manage it then.

But fewer people can manage it now, because it is more expensive.

People managed to buy televisions in the 60s. That doesn’t mean they were just as affordable as they are now.

Gosh I did imagine it then. I wish I had bought the nice semi that I just imagined had doubled in price. Silly me.

Hey, I'm no spring chicken. These things baffle me too sometimes.

From government tables on house prices it shows the average house price in 1970 was £4,975 and by 1973 was 9,942. Averages so not unreasonable to say the house we liked doubled between 1971 and 1973. By 1979 they show the average house price as £19,925.

It shows the 1990s with a jump of over £30k but that wasn't even a doubling in prices.

So was HPI worse in the 70s or 90s? Depends if you want to look at the money or the percentages.

All recent generations have been lucky in some ways and unlucky in other ways relative to each other.

Baby boomers had lower house prices but higher mortgage rates. At a time when they were ready to save or take their pensions, interest rates dropped and so the return on savings was lower and pension annuity rates lower. However they did have mortgage interest relief at source, student grants, deeds of covenants. They did have highet income tax rates. Millenials have had higher house prices but low mortgage rates. However they have had student loans and really high university fees. They get much better maternity pay and conditions though.

Earlier generations had two world wars to contend with. Women not that long ago didn't even have the vote. There was no NHS or antibiotics, etc.

It's no one's fault if one generation is luckier than another. It's just down to luck when we were born. There are different laws, different economic circumstances etc in our lives and we just have to get on with making the most of what opportunities there are and the best of our circumstances.

I think the younger generation though is working just as hard as the older generation.

There is indeed an increase during the 70's. I just think it needs to be examined in comparison to the more recent spike.

It's no one's fault if one generation is luckier than another.

One caveat - I do feel Government policy has contributed to this spike.

I'm sorry to disagree but anything over roof over head, food in stomach, and warmth has always been seen as luxuries to the frugal type.

Well quite. But not everyone was frugal in the past either. Money was wasted on booze, fags, day trips to the seaside etc etc etc. Money wastage is hardly new, that some people are more frugal than others goes across generations. But houses are definitely more expensive than last century despite there being many advantages to being a millennial rather than a bb!

It's no one's fault if one generation is luckier than another.

Unless people kept on voting in the government with the policy's that are going to feather their own nests.

future the increase in the 70s was because mortgages weren't easy to get prior to that.

@grannytomine I was making the point that whilst £120k is doable it still shows how ridiculously crazy house prices are. How does a home go from 3000 in on decade to 40x as much?? Yes my dad did lots of work on in over the years but not £137000 worth!

And it was only my dads income taken into account at the time they got the mortgage. Many women's incomes weren't included on a mortgage at the time.

Unless people kept on voting in the government with the policy's that are going to feather their own nests.

Ha! Yes. But I'm Labour and that spike starts at a very inconvenient time for me.

It has to be remembered that that spike, and the ones seen in Florida and California had a huge role in the collapse.

US prices deflated more, but are screaming up again. I think we have overcooked it again.