Stephen Mayne

Fridge at $400 would be $3,575.

A queen bed and base, $400 back then, would be $3,575.

And I reckon that he's making a really good point here, Alan, is that

Everything else associated with a house was massively more expensive back in the day, and people should take that into account when discussing housing affordability today.

What do you think?

It was all made here and tariff protected, wasn't it?

So it was grossly overinflated and inefficient.

And then Hayden's got the opposite perspective to Mark.

He's saying, thanks for pushing back on the housing affordability question.

It melts our brains when the older generations tell us about how high interest rates were back in their day.

We would kill to have those interest rates if it came with those income to house price ratios.

I do worry that the older generation don't quite understand the intergenerational fury that is building up across the Western nations.

somewhat in millennials, but especially in Gen Z, as they are seeing the hands they are being dealt.

Well, I guess both perspectives are correct, aren't they?

That inequality is greater globally than it's ever been.

Housing affordability at that ratio to wages is definitely worse than it's ever been, albeit it is cheaper to furnish the house.

So these are the two sides of the argument, and we're hearing both sides on today's cafe, Alan.

And we've had other readers write in and say that the quality of the house is also up.

And that's a good point as well, but...

If people just want to buy a median average house with qualities on par with every other average house, then it's so much harder.