The high interest rates are a red herring and using them as an example that it was harder back in the day doesn't stand up to any sort of scrutiny. Yeah sure 17% interest rates would suck on a mortgage but you can't look at it in a bubble.
First of all they weren't 17% for long and would have only smashed you if you bought at the worst time. Like the graph below shows, the year prior to the 17% interest rates house prices rose by 60% in one year. So if you bought the house 1 year prior, but can't afford the higher interest .... just sell the bloody thing and you'd still be in profit (and that profit would subsequently be making you a killing with high interest rates in the bank). Yeah if you bought at that high point then the interest rate would smash you but that's no-one's fault but your own.
The second point that conveniently gets forgotten is the inflation throughout the same period. You can't just look at the high mortgage rate and ignore the consistently high wage increases and savings rates. What am I saying? Of course you can. Boomers do it all the time.
Everyone wants to believe that they had/have it harder than previous or future generations, because if if they didn't, that would somehow diminish their own achievements. You can only play the hand you were dealt, and I'm sure the 80's weren't (entirely) beer and skittles, but representing an outlier short lived 17% interest rates as the norm is cherry-picking at best.
