§ 25. Commander Galbraithasked the Minister of Health why the average cost of building the typical three-bedroom house, which was given by him as £980 on 5th March, 1946, is no longer available.
§ Mr. BevanThe £980 was a tender price. No reliable average figures of final cost are yet available.
§ Commander GalbraithDoes that answer mean that the right hon. Gentleman is quite unable at this time to state the price of houses?
§ Mr. BevanThe price of the tender is not always the price which the house eventually costs, because there are almost invariably p.c. items which go up in price, and the final costs are invariably higher. I have got some final costs in mind, but I am not yet able to give a reliable figure for the country as a whole.