Gas fitters for BG must have been amongst the most highly paid people in the land then and pay hasn't kept up with inflation. Either that or he was just better with money than most.
Housing market
- Thread starter matt j
- Start date
Gas fitters for BG must have been amongst the most highly paid people in the land then and pay hasn't kept up with inflation. Either that or he was just better with money than most.
Joe Hutch
Mate of the bloke
It's house prices that are the killer. Our first flat cost £20k, which was less than twice what I was earning. The same flat sold recently for £360k, but the job I had at the time isn't paying anything like £180k a year. A quick check suggests it pays around £35k a year, which is more or less in line with inflation, but not with house price increases.
TheDecameron
Unicorns fart glitter.
Would you have a few minutes to spare to take part in a phone survey and hear about the great work my donkey sanctuary does?
So when houses were cheap, Brian was just poor? He seems to be saying buying a house has always been a struggle.
Joe Hutch
Mate of the bloke
It wasn't much of a struggle for me, or for my siblings (though to be fair all three of them live in the non-posh part of The Wirral, where housing was and is much cheaper than anywhere I've bought). It became a bit of a struggle when mortgage rates went up rapidly in the late 80s, especially as we were down to one income, and with two small children to clothe and feed.
Ponty
pfm Member
Yep, it’s never been easy to buy a house. Lower house prices and higher interest rates or higher house prices and lower interest rates, it works out largely the same as a % of income spent on the mortgage.
James Evans
Bedroom Bodger
Which part of the Wirral? I'm here too and it'd be useful guage of whether I'm posh or non-posh
Joe Hutch
Mate of the bloke
In order of age of siblings: Moreton, Saughull Massie, Liscard. My eldest sister's bungalow cost the princely sum of £600 when she bought it back in the early '70s!
In my mental map, the posh bit is on the left-hand side (West Kirby, Parkgate etc) and the non-posh bit is on the right-hand side (Leasowe, Birkenhead etc). I only really know the top part of the Wirral, and haven't lived there for almost 50 years.
In my mental map, the posh bit is on the left-hand side (West Kirby, Parkgate etc) and the non-posh bit is on the right-hand side (Leasowe, Birkenhead etc). I only really know the top part of the Wirral, and haven't lived there for almost 50 years.
webster
Listen & enjoy.
I think that's true.I joined the housing ladder in 1979 when I purchased a 1 bed flat and the repayments took a large slice of my income each month.What I do remember though is that was the only debt I had whereas now people saddle themselves with debt for anything and everything - the concept of saving to buy something seems to no longer exist.
Ponty
pfm Member
Excess consumerism facilitated via ultra cheap and easy debt I’m afraid. And here we are.
Brian
Eating fat, staying slim
Yes, I agree, have done for years, it’s why I bang on so much about the need for a national building programme, council rentals and all the rest of it. The whole housing market is skewed in the UK and has been since the tories screwed it up from 1979. I just get a bit fed up of the implication it was all so cheap and easy and the past. It was far from easy.
James Evans
Bedroom Bodger
We're in the middle bit, so neither here nor there as I suspected.
Joe Hutch
Mate of the bloke
When I was a teenager I said, during a discussion about buying houses (my sister was about to buy her first place) that I'd never buy a house, and would rent instead. About ten years later, when I was buying my first flat, my mother said 'I thought you said you'd never buy?' - yeah, when I was about sixteen and knew bugger-all about anything.
Brian
Eating fat, staying slim
I don’t believe I was poor, Matt, the house was just a big chunk of income, we had 2 kids and my wife gave up working for a long time by choice to stay at home with them. There were no overseas holidays, no flash car or other ‘extras’ that weren’t necessary.
This is true. We had no other debt or monthly payments other than those related to the house. Just as well because we wouldn’t have been able to afford what our kids have now in terms of car payments, Virgin tv and broadband, mobile phone contracts, netflix, spotify etc.
webster
Listen & enjoy.
That rings a bell!
Yep - I rented for a little while but rapidly came to the conclusion that it would make more sense to buy rather than pay off someone else's mortgage.
Tony L
Administrator
That hadn’t ever occurred to me, but there is some truth to it. It is always hard to assess as these things are always a moving target. Birkenhead technically has some of the best property due to its past wealth. Many simply stunning houses around Birkenhead Park etc, plus Hamilton Sq. Really huge Georgian and Victorian stuff. I’ve got a few friends in Oxton, and that’s really nice albeit within a short walk of some pretty run-down areas of Birkenhead. So much of the UK is just ruined by dumb politics and lack of opportunity. There is so much stunning property in need of restoration and re-contextualising. Exactly the same story in Liverpool, I spent most of the ‘80s in Newsham Park, which is part of Kensington, so an absolute dump and one of the worst and most neglected unemployment black spots of the Thatcher years, yet the actual properties, very large three-story Victorian houses, had/have so much potential. Same story in Toxteth/L8, which has some of the best Georgian housing stock anywhere in the UK. The whole thing needs rethinking as there are so many amazing assets in the least likely places.
James Evans
Bedroom Bodger
My mental assessment of the Wirral has always been those who are well to do have the north wales view, the “workers” have the Liverpool view, the middle managers are, er, in the middle bit. Oxton is a bit of an anomaly in that it’s a very well heeled area a stones throw from Birkenhead, and as you say, around the park there are some fantastic properties that are still a bargain, but would you want to live there is always the question.
Nice that you had the choice! I think a lot of renters, me included, would love to buy somewhere but can't afford the astronomical deposit. Anyway it is all moot now the rates are busted, I might as well rent for the foreseeable.