Then, when inflation fell in the 1990s, they benefited again from a stepjump in the value of their biggest asset as low interest rates stimulated a prolonged housing boom.
If anyone is hoping that the younger, educated generation of college graduates will be the ones to step up and buy homes to jump start the economy then they are mistaken, Dubitsky says in the report titled Are There Any Rungs Left on the Housing Ladder?
Talks with the troika appeared to have stalled over the demand that Greece cut private-sector wages as a step toward boosting the country's competitiveness and jump-starting its recession-ravaged economy.
Yet for Lynn Davies - who won Olympic long jump gold in 1964 and who is now president of UK Athletics - the news represents an extraordinary backwards step in less than 10 years.