asked the Minister for the Environment the cost of (a) a three bedroomed house, (b) a four bedroomed house in (i) June, 1977 and (ii) at the nearest available date in 1980; the percentage increases between those dates and the reason for the increase.
Written Answers. - Housing Costs.
438.
Information available in my Department relates to the average gross price of houses for which loans are approved by the main lending agencies. The average gross price of such houses was £14,011 in the quarter ended 30 June 1977, and £24,184 in the quarter ended 31 March 1980. The houses concerned are not necessarily comparable from quarter to quarter or between one area and another. Subject to this reservation the difference in price, which represents an increase of 73 per cent is attributable to several factors including (a) increased labour, material and site costs and (b) the substantial improvement during the period in the standards of privately built houses, as confirmed by surveys carried out by An Foras Forbartha.
An index of house building costs is prepared by Dublin Corporation in conjunction with the Department. The index is normally published on the second Friday of each month. Trends in the index since 1975 are set out in Table 21 of the Department's Quarterly Bulletin of Housing Statistics.