On Fri, 08 Jun 2012 04:26:40 +0100, Rob wrote:


It's a complicated picture. For example, average first time buyer
price-income ratios haven't changed that much over the last 30 years
(c.7 London, 4 everywhere else). And property prices, taking into
account wild swings, have 'only' risen by about inflation since the mid-70s.

But increasingly 'averages' are a cold comfort to many.

Rob

It is different though. Just prior to me buying in 1967 loans were frequently
limited to 2.5x a single salary. Under no circumstences would the Building
Society take my wife's earnings in to account. In the end I managed to get 3x
but it was touch and go, I vividly remember visiting the pay office and trying
to get a reluctant pay clerk to included my overtime, because without it I
couldn't borrow quite enough. In the end I won and got the £2700 I required.
We generally accepted such limitations, but once lending simply became a another
market place, prices increased.

Andy C.