Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

Are those prices affordable? Relatively so, people seem to be getting by and there is still a significant number of first-time buyers in the market. Some 45% of mortgages for new houses are to first-time buyers. It was always difficult for a first-time buyer be it now or ten or 20 years ago. Whenever any of us had a mortgage it was always difficult in the early years. Our own index shows that in the early 1990s people were paying a higher percentage but the position relaxed after 1992. I am concerned about price increases. There is no doubt that since this time last year prices have begun a new upward spiral. I do not agree that price increases of 15% or 16% for second-hand houses in Dublin are sustainable in the long term. I sincerely hope what we are seeing now is only a short-term blip and that the situation will soon calm down. We were making much progress over a few years and, 15 or 18 months ago, many of the experts said that increases last year might have been only 5% or 6%. For whatever reason — partly, I imagine, because of 100% mortgages and 90,000 extra jobs in the economy — prices took off into a new spiral about this time last year, which is worrying.

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