flip- flop.
1. Is it feasible? Yes, with one or two caveats. If your mortgage is currently only 1/6th your salary, it is likely that renting a property of similar size, location etc is likely to cost you more than you are currently paying on your mortgage, since most private property rentals in the UK are done via private landlords covering their mortgage plus at least 10% for a property management/rental company. Secondly, no one has any clear idea about just how long it will be before there is a property market crash. If you live in the South and particularly South East of England in particular, the crash may be a very very long way away, simply because of need far outstripping supply.
2. Interest rates to increase to stem borrowing? Yes, I think there will be a couple more rate rises yet..... but since we are starting from a historically low base, I do not think it is likely to have such a large impact on people as those back in the 80's
3. I don't know any mechanism by which a government could hypothetically stave off a property crash as things currently stand, except by the rather crude mechanism of significantly lowering interest rates.