Work Reform

Not sure where you are in the world, but in the 1980's there was a huge interest rate spike in many areas i think -- Canada for example had interest rates spike up to 20% practically overnight as a result of US trade shenanigans, and instability in the middle east.... (sounds familiar, though we haven't seen as drastic a shift this time). But like, for 40 years prior that, and 20 years post the 90s, it hovered around 5%. Recently (post 2010) it fluctuates a bit, but generally around that 3-5% mark still. Lately they ticked up a bit I think.

Anyhow, point being that your Dad's first payment in a 1985 home is basically a payment during a time of rather high rates/uncertainty. Interest rates in 2020 were at historic lows, so in terms of your first payment amounts, they were at one of the lowest rates in recent history (even if the house prices were still really high). So you're comparing a period of really bad rates for your dad, during a short period of time that saw the worst rates recorded, against a period of really artificially good rates for yourself. I dunno, I don't think that'd be too big a factor expanded out.

Besides, mortgages were a lot easier to get, in general, back 20-30+ years. Down payments were flexible, regulators weren't so anal / hostile towards industry, and credit checks were far less common place. Hell, I'm just an elder millennial, and I got my first condo more than a decade ago by doing a mortgage plus a signature loan to shore up the down payment (avoiding the additional insurance fees for CMHC stuff) -- so not only were the downpayment requirements FAR less (5%, compared to 5% to 20% depending on the price of the home, but always more than 5% in metropolitan areas), but you didn't even need that full 5% down payment - you could get like 3%, and do a personal loan for the other 2%. "Signature" loans were common place, where there was no real collateral other than the borrowers word -- small FIs routinely extended 20-30k credit equivalents. That sort of setup is practically unheard of these days, and would get a FI in serious trouble with most regulators. But either way, that's more about 'getting people into homes', than it is about the base home-prices and how they changed relative to other assets. But the broader point being that I don't think the interest rates are a significant factor in it, especially if you're comparing two historic outliers in your case.

Oh, the other obvious factor is immigration, particularly in Canada's scene. Like if you look at a real home price index and compare it against Canada's immigration volumes, they have similarly timed spikes and dips for good reason. Rents and housing prices have been falling ever since Canada put a cap on immigration/immigration trends reversed (particularly students for the rent side). Canada recently had a year where 100% of our population growth was from immigration. The population of the country and the demand for housing is artificially pumped through the immigration program, to the detriment of locals / people interested in sustainable growth patterns. You can't dump 700,000 new people into a country, all as grown adults needing homes and all the supports/amenities associated, and NOT expect there to be issues. Hell, Trudeau appointed his grade school buddy Miller as our immigration minister, and while there he was all "We need more people! Immigration is great! The more we can get the better it is for Canada!" -- then people got really pissed about housing/affordability, and Miller got re-appointed to a housing file, at which time he's suddenly sayin "We gotta cap immigration! It's causing too much strain on our systems, its not sustainable!". Guy just shills whatever he's told to shill. Our government explicitly takes actions to try and jack up those housing prices, especially as it's become one of the only 'growth' areas for gdp. Housing price-related taxes pay for numerous big gov depts, so if they dip, the gov has serious problems.