not at hand, there where loads of them when the crash first happened and it seems true enough. you now need a deposit and far far fewer mortgages out there to choose from.
That just deals with the actual part of buying a house though.
I was talking about what happens after that.
Compare the scenarios:
1) Take out a £160K mortgage at 4% in a low inflation, high house price environment.
Initial mortgage payment is £844 per month and you receive annual pay rises of 3%.
1) Take out a £80K mortgage at 12% in a high inflation, low house price environment.
Initial mortgage payment is £842 per month and you receive annual pay rises of 10%.
Even though the mortgages are equivalent at the start, the person in the first scenario remains hampered by the debt for a longer period than the one in the second scenario.
The second scenario is what we've seen in the past, the first scenario is what we have at the minute.
If it remains like this long term I can see significant problems for the economy for years to come. People will be spending much more of their incomes on mortgage repayments for longer periods leaving them with less disposable income and less to plough into the economy.