Noel Ahern (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)

The affordability index is more important. While that has also increased it is still not as bad as it was for a period in the early 1990s. Affordability comprises the price of the house, the tax rate, the interest rate and the average take-home pay. While affordability has worsened, many people have got over it. While, sadly, I might give out about it, many affordability indexes are based on either a 20-year loan or, in some cases, including that of DKM, a 25-year loan. In reality people are now getting 35-year mortgages, which considerably decreases the percentage of the net take-home pay spent on mortgage repayments.

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