I missed the bandwagon, should have bought in the 90’s when I could have got something for £35k, after wasting rent for 7 years eventually bought first house after the boom. Buying in the 90’s would have left me nearly mortgage free now, but still glad to be on the housing ladder regardless.
Rent around here is £100-£200 more than my mortgage, and i’d had enough of landlords and their poor ideals in those 7 years I rented.
For £600 mortgage I get a three bed semi detached with a decent garden. Some of the renting prospects for £600 are literally squats in comparison
To get back to the OP, even though I missed the boom, I managed to upsize to bigger house in the middle of the housing lull around 2010, and now current house is worth £30k more than it was when I moved in three years ago. Which would make it unaffordable if buying today.