>Figures in the Uk press said that the FTSE is now lower than 1998. Allowing for inflation that means a drop in value of 40 % yet at the same time we are supposed to have been having a boom time for the last decade. Do I feel better off than I did 10 years ago ?
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>When I bought my first house my partners annual income and mine where roughly the same as the value of the house. For me to buy that house now our annual income would have to be £280000 (say $500000) and no I don't earn anywhere near that .

It's good (for what?) that real estate doesn't get into the calculation of the prices index, or else who knows what it would look like ;).