§ Mr. MarlowTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what has been the average build cost, excluding land of(a) two bedrooms and (b) three bedrooms council houses in Greater London for each of the past six years.
§ Mr. Trippier[holding answer 26 October 1988]: The estimated average construction costs, excluding land, site works and ancillary buildings and fees, of four bed-space and five bed-space local authority houses in the Greater London area are as follows:
Average construction costs £ Year 4 bed-space houses 5 bed-space houses 1983 24,700 25,600 1984 20,800 24,700 1985 25,300 34,100 1986 29,000 31,200 1 1987 30,600 36,800 11988 35,000 45,600 1 Data for 1987 refers to the second half of that year while data for 1988 only includes schemes up to the present date. The estimates are not directly comparable from year to year because of the variation in the average floor area per dwelling.