I worked in the mortgage and financial sector from 1966 to 1992. During this time the government actively encouraged home ownership including (as mentioned before) tax relief on mortgage interest and life insurance policies plus no capital gains on the sale of your main property. Lenders advanced a basic level without guarantee that might be around 80% or so of value or price, whichever was the lower. Wage multiples were 2 to 2.5 times the males earnings. In the early 70s a major change took place when joint incomes started to be taken into account….that meant the the woman’s wage helped to extend the amount that could be borrowed. Thatcher encouraged the sale of council houses at highly discounted prices and together with lenders ensured that guarantees were in place. 100% loans became almost commonplace. Banks and building societies couldn’t raise enough funds to satisfy demand. Lenders had mortgage quotas. I know , I ran 10 branches each of which had their own allocated amounts. Lenders pressed the government to deregulate and allow them to access on personal savings to increase the supply of monies to facilitate growth. Lenders extended multiples to 4 or 5 times earnings. Some offered 120% mortgages . All of which was based on the premise that whatever the interest rate, property values were growing faster making it a net gain on an annual basis. They did and laid the foundation of the future financial catastrophe. Meanwhile government decided to withdraw the tax relief on mortgage interest and life insurance. They haven’t taken away the exemption from capital gains tax yet! Anyone with an elderly relative who needs to go into care will recognise that their home is very often taken into account when assessing payment. Sorry guys. Various governments hands are all over the policies which led us to this point. IMO. However, I agree that people seem to expect more, sooner and without fully understanding the impact if things go wrong as they often will.