Two numbers I would like to see

[andrewducker]

1) Average age of first-time home buyers as a graph covering the last 50 years.
2) Average monthly mortgage repayment over a similar time period - adjusted for inflation.  Because this would adjust (somewhat) for house prices going up while interest rates are low.

Between them these would tell us something about the affordability of housing over a long period.

Comments

[communicator.livejournal.com]

In the 1970s middle class people - by which I mean managerial, skilled white collar workers and professionals - typically lived in mortgaged private accommodation. A young secretary or receptionist wouldn't have a mortgage, though, and this represents a certain proportion of those classed as C1. My father was a clerical worker, in a junior role because he is disabled, with 4 children and we didn't have a mortgage. Our neighbours were skilled manual workers, such as bus drivers, railwaymen, machine operators. There was a relatively good supply of clean safe cheap public housing for this intermediate class of upper working/ lower middle.

I think the biggest change under Thatcher was to remove the possibility of living a quiet respectable life like that on a fairly low income.