Housing costs - pure and simple. In the UK - 60,000 a year is more than enough to live on - except if you have a significant mortgage ( or are paying somebody

Housing costs - pure and simple. In the UK - 60,000 a year is more than enough to live on - except if you have a significant mortgage ( or are paying somebody elses via rent ) - with average interests rates in the region of 4.5 % if you have a 90% mortgage on the average UK house price ( 362,000 ) then your available income after mortgage and tax is more in the 15-20K range. In my view that's a combination of letting the banks create too much money, leading to 'investment' in housing, and limited housing supply versus demand.