§ 21. Mr. Horamasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what was the average price of a new house and of a second-hand house in the Northern Region at the latest available date.
§ Mr. EyreThe average prices for new and second-hand houses in the Northern Region were £5,904 and £5,280 respectively in 1972.
§ Mr. HoramDo not these figures show that the repeated assertion of the Minister for Housing and Construction that house owning is within the means of the average family on average or below-average earnings is the sheerest moonshine, even in a region with an unusually high proportion of very cheap houses? Is it not a fact—and will it not emerge even more clearly when the Budget implications for mortgage lending rates become even clearer—that in terms of house owning we are still sharply divided between the haves and the have-nots?
§ Mr. EyreThe national figures show that first-time purchasers were holding their own in the market during 1972. Mortgages for first-time purchasers rose 400 from 301,000 to 371,000 and mortgages for borrowers under 25 rose from 117,000 to 144,000.
§ Mr. FernyhoughIn view of the substantial increase in the price of both new and second-hand houses, particularly during the last three years, what does the Minister intend to do about it? How does he expect the fellows on £20 and £25 a week to stand aside and not put in for wage claims when house prices are rising with the rapidity that they have done under this Government?
§ Mr. EyreThere are reports from some building societies that during the last three or four months there has been a marked levelling off in prices, for existing houses in particular.