Owning your own home

In 1989 at one point interest rates hit 15%, don't want to scare you or anything ;o)))

That's just scaremongering. The base rate never got above 14.875%. It was actually higher in the early 80s.

That said, plenty of lenders were charging 3% over base rate at the time, so work your mortgage repayment out at 18%.

Can you afford it?

Me neither.