Sir, – We were able to buy our first three-bedroom semi-detached home in 1973 with a deposit of 10 per cent and a 20-year mortgage capped at 2½ times my one salary. Today this house would sell for at least €350,000. In applying the same formula today, we would require a deposit of €35,000 and a mortgage of €315,000, meaning I would need a salary of €126,000. The median salary for an engineer with three to five years of experience is now €43,000.
So the cost of a modest house to the home owner has really trebled over 50 years.
This has all happened by stealth under the stewardship of many governments. It will take some bold decisions to correct all this. – Yours, etc,
EOIN Ó DÚNLAING,
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Dublin 16.