§ 2. Mr. Snowasked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what was the cost, basedpro rata on equal floor area of three-bedroom council houses in the years 1951, 1955, 1959, and 1962, respectively.
§ Mr. CorfieldThe average cost based on a standard area of 900 square feet was for each year respectively £1,194, £1,403, £1,520 and £1,957.
§ Mr. SnowApart from labour costs, what is the reason for this greatly increased cost of building houses?
§ Mr. CorfieldThe only constructive conclusion which can be drawn from the 647 figures is the pressure on the resources of the building industry and the necessity of increasing productivity.
§ 4. Mr. Boydenasked the Minister of Housing arid Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs what was the average tender price for local authority houses for the last three convenient months; and how these prices compare with the same months in 1961 and 1959 respectively.
§ Mr. CorfieldThe average tender price of a three-bedroom house, based on a standard area of 900 square feet was £2,026 in the 3 months ended 28th February, 1963; £1,693 for the corresponding period in 1960–61; and £1,483 for the corresponding period in 1958–59.
§ Mr. BoydenIs not this very alarming rise in costs due to the fact that the profit margins in speculative building and commercial building are so much higher that in many cases there are not, in effect, effective competitive tenders for local authority houses?
§ Mr. CorfieldMy information is that the vast majority of these tenders were competitive tenders. I think that it therefore leads to the conclusion which I mentioned in reply to an earlier Question, that the local resources of the building industry are being overstrained.