old.sparkles

The statistics are averages - and they actually seemed to record male wages and a possibly a percentage of female wages, which would possibly inflate an average. They are also gross wages, and Gibbo was giving take home wages. I have no idea on taxes at the time. Still, if you earnt the average in Sydney, and paid average price for a house, the cost would be 6 times salary.

I also did a quick look at Mikes salary for 1982 which was about 50% above the average for the time. If those sort of salaries were skewing data in the 70's, it would be easy to see how a teacher would be on less than the average - I don't think teaching is renowned for paying high wages.

Zen10

Gross wages are used for all these statistics. I think Gibbo's response was to make the point that things were tougher back in the day. While they may have been for her, they certainly weren't for the bulk of that generation. I'm not doubting the veracity of her claims, merely pointing out that the anecdotal evidence of one carpenter stacks up poorly against the masses of official data.

Gibbo

How ridiculous are you? Averages mean there are some below and above the figure given. I lived here in 1971 did you? I think I would know more about the conditions in NSW than you.

Zen10

There really is no need to get personally offensive. I'm perfectly aware of what mean and median figures represent, and I'm more interested in using government data to gain an understanding of conditions of housing costs than random people on forums who resort so easily to insults. Having said that you yourself have made my point for me concerning houses being less affordable now, so perhaps you should refrain from raising the subject of ridiculousness.

Gibbo

I do not mean to be offensive. If you look at my original post you will see that I asked if the cost of housing was greater than it was in 1971 in comparison to wages.

chris955

It is clearly harder to get on the ladder now and the house ownership % dropping certainly points to that. You have to remember that half the population earn less than $44,000 so the $70,000 figure is largely irrelevant to a lot of people struggling to buy anything worth owning. Our house went up threefold in 10 years and was average price at the time, wages obviously didnt go up anywhere near as much in the same period.

Zen10

This ↑ which is broadly what I put in the first place. The median house where I live is $745,000. If you want to buy a broken down place around here with three bedrooms, requiring a new kitchen and bathroom, new doors, windows, aircon, full redecoration of every room, total landscaping outside, you'll need at least $450,000, usually more like $550,000. Then you'll need $100,000 to bring it up to a decent basic standard. You can go and live with the bogans and their rap music and jacked-up utes for $400,000 if you fancy it.

As I have said on any occasions, the situation is dire, and the only thing that picks me up is looking on rightmove and seeing even crapper houses in the UK. The bottom line is the governments of both countries have decided that baby boomers pensions are more important than young people owning decent homes, and there is nothing anyone can do about this.

KJCherokee

In 1971 I was in the UK, not long out of college and earning around 1000 pounds a year, and I could have bought a Victorian mid-terrace 3 bed house in Leatherhead for around 3,500. When I got married in 1974 my income had gone up to 1800 (new job, more experience) and bought a Victorian mid-terrace 2 bed house in a village outside Reading for 8,500.

Rapid house price inflation is nothing new.

My first house in Australia was bought in Edwardstown (SA) in 1983 for $44,000 when my income was $19,500. That was a 3 bed 1920's house on a quarter acre block in a quiet cul-de-sac: I'm sure Zen would have consideed the neighbours to be bogans but we got on very well with them.

eddie007

I love how people expect their first house to be a nice house in a nice street in their prefered suburb....with all the fruit.

The way it used to be done is... You brought what you could afford... WheRe you could afford it... And got on with life... Did it up, lived there a while until your circumstances "evolved"...

You then looked for something a little bigger to meet expanding family..... Brought the worst house in the best street you could afford.... Made it home... Did it up lived there a while.... Until the wheel turned again

Nowadays people expect to jump into a nice house in a desirable area and can't understand why they can't afford to do so....

Unrealistic expectations lead to bitterness and resentment And paranoia

Loch Lomond

Yes you can get crap houses in the UK, but you can also get pretty decent ones at a good price without neighbours who park 4 utes on their lawn, and have 2 dogs in the back yard barking day and night...and don't get me started on the weekend parties.
Australian house prices are off this planet, they really are.
You can analyse the Australian and UK housing market all you want, the cost is the cost regardless of who determines it. You can also decide to sit on the sidelines and rent and then watch others buy and prosper.
I see the housing market in both countries as no different to when I first bought a flat in Scotland in the early 1980's. At that time everyone was shouting about how expensive property was (see the trend here), some were even suggesting youngsters should start out in caravans and narrowboats. I saved a deposit of £2000, and bought my first flat at £11000 and then resigned myself to knowing that at 21 years old I would have no social life. Things got better after about 9 months with a pay rise and some overtime, but I had managed to get on the property ladder. If you get off it, you'll struggle to get back on.
I sold my house in Perth for a $500K profit, and along with savings have moved back to the UK and am semi retired at 47.
For all those complaining about house prices in either country, if you had a property and could sell at the top market value...you would wouldn't you.

jackieh23

Couldn't agree with you more...

Cardboard Box!

EI: 'E was right. I was happier then and I had NOTHIN'. We used to live in this tiiiny old house, with greaaaaat big holes in the roof.
GC: House? You were lucky to have a HOUSE! We used to live in one room, all hundred and twenty-six of us, no furniture. Half the floor was missing; we were all huddled together in one corner for fear of FALLING!
TG: You were lucky to have a ROOM! *We* used to have to live in a corridor!
MP: Ohhhh we used to DREAM of livin' in a corridor! Woulda' been a palace to us. We used to live in an old water tank on a rubbish tip. We got woken up every morning by having a load of rotting fish dumped all over us! House!? Hmph.
EI: Well when I say "house" it was only a hole in the ground covered by a piece of tarpolin, but it was a house to US.
GC: We were evicted from *our* hole in the ground; we had to go and live in a lake!
TG: You were lucky to have a LAKE! There were a hundred and sixty of us living in a small shoebox in the middle of the road.
MP: Cardboard box?
TG: Aye.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xe1a1wHxTyo‎

Amazulu

Totally agree. My first home was a 2-bed flat in Croydon - not the best area but it was what I could afford and you've got to start somewhere

I actually enjoyed living there and had a lot of fun

Dreamy

I agree, I've said exactly the same thing.

Zen10

I agree with this. Our first home was reasonably large but in a terrible state and required massive renovation. Most young people would have just walked away. They did, in fact, which is why we got a good deal. Housing is affordable in Adelaide, but the stuff that is sensibly prices (3.5 times average salary) is over an hour outside the CBD, no traffic, and it's small and run down. At the moment, Aussie wages are pretty good, but when they start to slow down could get even tougher because as most here tend to agree, government of any colour will do literally anything to keep the prices artificially high.

eddie007

I had friends who got off the uk property ladder in the early 90s, put the equity they had in a bank and rented... then sat and watched house prices go up and up and up... ... and the real value of their little lump sum go down and down and down...

They still rent over 20 years later

If they HAD just bitten the bullet, stopped whinging about inflated house prices and got back on the ladder they would have less than 3 years left to pay on their mortgage before they own their home...