Modern slavery
While doing some research on UK housing prices i came across this statistic that absolutely blew my mind. We all know that housing prices are much higher now than compared to decades ago, but it's hard to really grasp the difference because you have to factor in the inflation.
These guys did an excellent job to depict this difference by measuring how many years of work are needed in order to afford a house. This allows an easy understanding of how bad things have deteriorated.
Back in the 1950s the average income per year was 8,896 GBP and the average house price was 2,000 GBP, which translated in 0.22 years of work needed in order to afford a house. Stop for a second and read that again. You only needed to work 0.22 years in order to afford a home. OMG!
1960s - 0.36 years of work
1970s - 0.77 years of work
1980s - 2.03 years of work
1990s - 3.50 years of work
2000s - 7.33 years of work
2010/11 - 8.52 years of work
They say slavery was abolished. What a joke, we've been all enslaved now, and we don't even realise it.
Why do you consider this slavery? I am just willing to learn. Considering that the houses are built by capitalist and not necessarily Government. What is the point?
Having a roof over your head is a basic necessity and the fact that you need to work for decades (the statistic doesn't take into account other expenditures like food, medical-health, bills) to afford it, in my opinion makes us slaves. Nobody keeps you in chains, or puts a gun to your head...you can always sleep on the streets...or not cause it's illegal :)
Makes sense but developers are ordinary citizens like you. So this slavery is championed by fellow citizen in your own opinion?
I'm not saying that the developers are championing enslavement, i was trying to show how much purchasing power we've lost all these years.
I just checked and I came across this:
The base rate for borrowing is now 3.75 per cent - as low as it was in 1955.
In those days the average weekly wage was #9.25 and the average house was worth #2,064.
Now 9.25 *52=481
4.3 years to buy a house.
Didn't bother to check the other decades I figure the numbers are wrong also. Except perhaps the last two.
I got the data from the link i provided in the post. Maybe the data is wrong and if so, i stand corrected, but i still maintain my view about enslavement. The average Joe has to pay mortgage for 30 years, so the real price they pay is not the price of the house, but the price of the loan.
To make things worst, you don't actually own your house :) If you have to pay council tax for your whole life on something you own, to me it does't feel like you really own it.
Buying a house – In 1966 the average cost of a house was £3,620, which equates to about £60,848 in today’s money
Wages – the average annual UK salary in 1966 was £891, which sounds ridiculously small nowadays but it equates to upwards of £14,977 in modern terms.
4 years average to pay for a house.
I have no problem with your idea on enslavement but I think you should be sure of the numbers you use before posting, because it just makes the post look like a lie. If you have good numbers people tend to believe more in the post and at the same time you are not spreading disinformation.