During the decades previous to the crisis, rising housing prices were the common pattern in UK. As the infographic below shows, the hike in the price of housing surged well ahead of the increase in the cost of living.
The average price of properties in the UK changed from 5,600 pounds in 1971 to 242,000 pounds in 2013, staying well out of reach of the purchasing power of the majority of workers. In this context, a British company specialised in the real estate sector, Ocean Finance, researched what the price would be of several everyday products had they risen proportionally to housing prices.
The results are portrayed in the infographic below, which demonstrates the disproportionate housing prices and their detachment from reality. The UK housing sector, just as in Spain, is out of control due to speculation.
To provide some context regarding the dynamics of house prices on a global scale, it is worth checking out this interactive graph by The Economist, which allows us to compare the trajectories of average house prices in various countries since 1975.
This is a non-profit infographic