In 1983 it was 17%.
A high interest rate of one year isn’t going to do much over the course of 30 years.
On error: 1981 was the high point.
one year isn’t going to do much
One year is a short mortgage. Here's 32 years where the prime rate's been almost consistently on the hard side of 6. Your parents had excellent jobs before the '80s, but it wasn't all rosy.
| year | bank rate | prime lending rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | 7.46 | 7.96 |
| 1970 | 7.12 | 8.17 |
| 1971 | 5.19 | 6.48 |
| 1972 | 4.75 | 6 |
| 1973 | 6.12 | 7.65 |
| 1974 | 8.5 | 10.75 |
| 1975 | 8.5 | 9.42 |
| 1976 | 9.29 | 10.04 |
| 1977 | 7.71 | 8.5 |
| 1978 | 8.98 | 9.69 |
| 1979 | 12.1 | 12.9 |
| 1980 | 12.89 | 14.25 |
| 1981 | 17.93 | 19.29 |
| 1982 | 13.96 | 15.81 |
| 1983 | 9.55 | 11.17 |
| 1984 | 11.31 | 12.06 |
| 1985 | 9.65 | 10.58 |
| 1986 | 9.21 | 10.52 |
| 1987 | 8.4 | 9.52 |
| 1988 | 9.69 | 10.83 |
| 1989 | 12.29 | 13.33 |
| 1990 | 13.04 | 14.06 |
| 1991 | 9.03 | 9.94 |
| 1992 | 6.78 | 7.48 |
| 1993 | 5.09 | 5.94 |
| 1994 | 5.77 | 6.88 |
| 1995 | 7.31 | 8.65 |
| 1996 | 4.53 | 6.06 |
| 1997 | 3.52 | 4.96 |
| 1998 | 5.1 | 6.6 |
| 1999 | 4.92 | 6.44 |
| 2000 | 5.77 | 7.27 |
| 2001 | 4.31 | 5.81 |