1979: Our House - Episode 2 This is Capitalism

How might a young couple, unable to buy their first home today, have fared in previous decades? Tacita and Charlie are in their mid twenties. They live near Brighton on the south coast and are desperate to move in together. But buying somewhere in that part of the country is out of their reach. They believe that earlier generations had it easier than they do. In the second of five programmes, Tacita and Charlie travel back to 1979. Inflation rates were soaring and mortgage payments were likely to take up more of your income than ever before. Industrial unrest was commonplace, but the gap between top and low earners much less than in other decades. So how much difficulty would a young couple, trying to get on the housing ladder back then, have faced?
The experts who guide our couple through 1979 are economist Jonathan Cribb from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Professor Sharon Collard from the University of Bristol and Professor Claire Langhamer from the University of Sussex.
Producers: Rosamund Jones and Paul Kerley