Follow this topicWhat food would cost if it increased like house prices
Housing charity Shelter has looked at how much we'd have to pay for food today if prices matched house price inflation over the past 40 years.
If UK food prices had risen at the same rate as house prices over the last 40 years, a leg of lamb would now cost £53.18.
That’s according to housing charity Shelter, which is using property price inflation as part of a campaign to highlight the difficulties facing people wanting to get on the property ladder.
The price of eggs (matched to house prices)
Using Office for National Statistics data, which shows house prices rose by over 43 times between 1971 and 2011, Shelter calculated the following costs for essential food items.
|
Item |
Inflationary cost |
|
Leg of lamb |
£53.18 |
|
Whole chicken |
£51.18 |
|
Four-pint carton of milk |
£10.45 |
|
Bunch of six bananas |
£8.47 |
|
Box of six eggs |
£5.01 |
|
Loaf of sliced white bread |
£4.36 |
In total, using this inflationary measure, Shelter says the average weekly cost of food for a family of four would be £453.28.
Call for more affordable homes
Shelter says nearly six in ten people who don’t own a home believe they’ll never be able to afford to buy where they currently live. It wants the Government to invest in more affordable housing.
A Shelter spokesperson told us: “Today’s dysfunctional housing market isn’t the result of the credit crunch or more restrained mortgage lending, but decades of underinvestment in building enough affordable homes.
“Without bigger and bolder action soon, the chances of the next generation getting an affordable place of their own look increasingly bleak.”
I'd disagree that this is the sole reason, as prices were also fuelled by the availability of cheap credit, which of course then led to the financial system going belly up.
Shelter Chief Executive Campbell Robb said: “The high cost of food is already a real concern for people, so if prices reached these levels there’s no way we’d accept it. Yet when it comes to the huge rise in the cost of buying a home over the past few decades, somehow this is seen as normal – even welcome – despite the impact it’s having on a generation desperate for a home of their own.”
Well, it would be a surprise if those older people lucky enough to see their home soar in value didn't welcome the increase. And I'd argue the 'normalisation' of house price inflation is, in part, down to the media.
But it does obviously present a huge problem for the next generation, burdened by rising living costs and facing a lack of available credit. Unfortunately, in my opinion, there is no quick fix. Take affordable housing – the issues around land use and development are far more complex than simply building a load of new homes, and they need to be built in places where there are jobs and infrastructure.
So while Shelter is highlighting this issue in an innovative way, it's really not that simple.
What do you think? Do you agree with Shelter that a lack of affordable housing is to blame for house price inflation? Let us know in the Comments box below.
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