The average price of a three-bedroom semi-detached house in Dublin is now more than ten times the average household income in the capital, according to Workers’ Party Dublin representative Gavin Mendel-Gleason.
Commenting on figures released today (March 27th) in the Real Estate Alliance’s Q1 2017 House Price Survey, Mendel-Gleason said:
The average cost of a house in Dublin has risen to €404,167. This is more than ten times the CSO’s estimate of average household income in Dublin, at approximately €39,000.
The chasm between average earnings and average house prices shows once again that any attempt to solve the house crisis without massive state investment in public housing is bound to fail.
Mendel-Gleason pointed to the huge disparity between the REA’s figures and borrowing limits, saying:
Households are limited to taking out a maximum mortgage of three and a half times their income. In the past, this chasm has been bridged by massive state subsidies to developers, or hugely irresponsible lending, which ultimately puts homeowners at risk of mortgage distress and eviction.
Mendel-Gleason suggested that the figures demonstrate the need for housing to be taken out of the private market, concluding:
Instead of yet another private property bubble, what we need is an approach similar to that advocated by the Nevin Institute and the Workers’ Party, where the state becomes a major landlord offering secure, cost rental public housing to all households.