Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Our researchers have suggested that in a number of years during the housing boom the increase in the value of the average home was larger than the amount of money a worker on the average industrial wage would take home over the whole year. In fact, from 1996 to 2006, they maintain that the price of an average home increased 400%, an average each year of equivalent or greater than the average industrial wage. The result was that the increase in house prices created significant opportunities for investors to make large profits in housing development. Does the range of what were massive price increases by any standards indicate a serious level of profiteering and speculation in the housing market?