The Annual Report on the Expenditure and Food Survey is a goldmine of fascinating facts and insights into the cost of living and how it’s changed in the last fifty years. Fifty years ago, the quick house sale market didn’t exist – property prices were much lower, and the desire to become a homeowner not as pronounced as it is today in our era of Location, Location, Location, Changing Rooms and countless other TV programmes obsessed with bricks and mortar. But now, more of us are taking risks as property developers, borrowing more to match inflated property prices and turning to the quick house sale market when we get in a financial jam.

The annual report marked its 50^th anniversary this year by comparing the cost of a household today with that half a century ago. And one of the outstanding contrasts that explained the emergence of the quick house sale market is the fact that in the 1950s UK homeowners spent significantly less on their mortgages. Although the report reveals our incomes have doubled in real terms and we spend less on food, our spending on housing takes up a greater piece of the pie than ever before. As such, it’s no wonder that the quick house sale market has responded to those homeowners who have become caught up in a Catch-22 scenario, where they can’t find a way out of mortgage misery.

Incomes have doubled partly due to the fact many homes have two incomes. More is spent on consumerism and leisure activities today, but interestingly the report revealed greater spending on leisure has not made us happier. Today, housing swallows up the bulk of our incomes, but in the fifties two-thirds of the household income was spent on food, fuel, rent, clothing and travel. Significantly, the cost of housing has doubled since 1957, putting immense pressure on modern families. It’s no wonder for those whose incomes are stretched to the max that addressing the high cost of housing is the number one priority, explaining why the quick house sale market has increased in popularity and demand in recent years.