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

[andrewducker]

2007 was the very top of the boom - so I'd expect that to push up the age of first time buyers. But since then interest rates have dropped, and so have home prices, as the bubble burst, so I'd like to see a comparison to now - and over time.

Good point about the 50s/60s. My parents bought in 1970 - and I know that at that point it was the same cost to buy as to rent where they were. But I know it varies up and down. When I first bought in Edinburgh it was cheaper to buy my flat than the rent I'd been paying, but it was a pretty bad area I was moving into.

[cheekbones3.livejournal.com]

Problem with that is that mortgages are much less gettable. I bought a flat in 2007, and even though I'm much more prosperous now, I'd have no chance of buying anywhere at all.

[andrewducker]

Absolutely - which is why the age of first-time buyers is as important as affordability.