Ireland 2nd most expensive

Ireland is now the second most expensive country in Europe for buying a house according to a new international survey. It now costs 18 times the average yearly disposable income to purchase a typical urban home. In the EU, the average is 14.7 and the average is just 8.3 times in the US. The figures, published by international brokerage company Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, show Irish prices have soared from a ratio of 11.3 times income in 1989 to their present level. A decade ago they were among the cheapest in Europe. They have travelled in the opposite direction to those in Britain, which have fallen from 18.6 times yearly income in 1989 in 12.7 times today.

The Irish Independent