It ' s a projection . I ' m going to try and keep this within the confines of rUKPersonalFinanceI always look at things like this Don ' t measure things in absolute terms . Measure your place within the system if you need to . There is a huge amount of uncertainty in the next two years , possibly the next ten . We as individuals have almost no control over any of them so all that is left is to manoeuvre ourselves to be in the best possible situation as events unfold . So we might ' earn less ' in real terms , but that could be 5 % which might be a bit painful , or it could be 50 % which would be a catastrophe . But your individual position within that has even more variation . You could get a promotion and double your pay . You could lose your job . But the macroeconomics mean that what matters is the broad brushes If earnings drop across the board , then house prices will have to fall Demand will drop , mortgages will become unaffordable and that has it ' s own impact on the market . FWIW , My take home pay now is almost the same as it was in 2008 I ' ve been subject to a 5 year pay freeze thanks to our glorious leader . I ' m fortunate in that I have a house already that I could not now afford . But I feel better off then I did back then . I ' m more savvy with my finances and my wife thankfully has had pay rises but only works 3 days a week . I prefer to deal with the detail of what I can achieve , rather than worry about macroeconomics . We ' re all in the broader situation together , and there is some safety in numbers .