Interest(ing)?

By: Lorraine (Registered ) on 15-10-2007 01:21

I married in the early sixties and found it hard to save for a house and even harder to get a loan. Interest rates at that time were around 4.5%. You were expected to have a very large deposit and a very good employment record. Women's wages were not taken into consideration it was all based on the "wage earner's" employment, read that as 'man of the house'. During the early 90's when my children wanted to buy a house they had many more options even though interest rates were at about 17% but both wages were considred. 17% on $160,000 for an inner city three bedroom terrace was still affordable. Try to buy that same property now at close to a $million at 8% interest. Take it that wages/salaries may have doubled in that time the affordability is still for a house at about half the cost as everything else has gone up and now includes GST. The pressure is also on to have more and more. At least when we were young it was not a crime to struggle, to wait, to save, to do without. The media pressure, the availability of credit, the have it all now mentality, for tomorrow we may be doomed, pervades young people's psyche. I feel desperately sorry for them. We may have had it hard but at least we could see things would get better. I'm not so sure that it it is as clear today.

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