A recent survey shows that the Brits are spending more money than ever on mortgages and housing, as well as consumer goods. But have all this spending, home comforts and increase in leisure activities made us happier? Not according to the report. Fifty years ago, the quick house sale market didn’t exist as debt was nowhere near the rate it has reached today. The Office for National Statistics released the report that compares spending in 1957 to spending today to mark the 50^th anniversary of the Family Expenditure Survey.

The desire for home ownership in the past decade or so hasn’t been dampened by the exorbitantly high property prices.  Some economists believe these high prices are inflated beyond their true value. This belief follows the theory that property prices have been pushed up in a kind of psychological frenzy – buyers became willing to pay vast amounts more on homes that were worth half as much a few years before. As such, a housing slump is predicted by those who feel the market needs to make a necessary correction to bring the prices back down to their truer value. More reason for some to sell fast on the quick house sale market rather than risking the value of their home dropping significantly in a shaky market.

The difference in the cost of housing fifty years ago illustrates the massive hike in prices that have resulted in such difficulties. The divide between home ownership and renting has increased and many have had to over borrow to get onto the property ladder today, leaving them more vulnerable to debt. The quick house sale market responded to the need in the property market for those homeowners who found themselves in financial trouble as a result.  Although disposable incomes have grown the gaps between the haves and have-nots has also grown.

But struggling to acquire home ownership when finances are tight hasn’t resulted in happiness for some. The weight and anxiety debt can cause alongside the risk of repossession means these homeowners might in fact be happier escaping the shackles of ‘status anxiety’ and turning to the quick house sale market. Home ownership or renting is by-the-by, as economist Richard Layard of the London School of Economics has said, happiness does not increase with income once the basic needs in life are covered. In fact, home ownership can increase the likelihood of status anxiety and jealousy as homeowners fall into the battle of the Joneses syndrome. The quick house sale market offers a way out.