One hundred years ago, when the map of the world was painted pink, the British Empire was at its zenith and the City of London was the hub of global commerce. According to records placed online for the first time recently you could buy a huge commercial property in the centre of the capital for £14,000.
The publication of the first volumes of the 1910 land tax valuations, the so called Lloyd George Domesday survey, which followed the Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer’s great fiscal reforms, reveals the house prices of 100 years ago.
You could have bought a property in Chancery Lane for £11,000, a commercial property in Fleet Street for £25,000 or one in Cannon Street – down by the Thames – for £20,000.
The prices are still hefty for the salaries of the era, but they are proportionately much less than the sums properties in those locations would fetch today.
A similar commercial property in Fleet Street would now cost more than £1.2m. In Cannon Street, it would be £2.2m.
The difference to life in Britain from America was staggering. In America, the average life expectancy was 47 years. Only 14 percent of the homes had a bathtub. Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.
There were only 8,000 cars and only 144 miles of paved roads. The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.
The average wage in 1909 was 22 cents per hour. The average worker made between $200 and $400 per year. A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year, dentist $2,500 per year, a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.
So despite Britain and London in particular, being a world leader in regards to industry, property prices remained good value. Today, although the rest of the commercial world has caught up to Britain, commercial property prices in London are the highest on the globe.
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