‘Price gouging’ blamed for rising construction costs

“Price gouging” is causing the cost of construction and home building to more than double, a meeting of Roscommon County Council heard.

At a plenary meeting of the local authority, Cllr Tom Crosby tabled a motion calling for the government to urgently introduce transparent monitoring and reporting, and enforceable controls, to curb the excessive cost of building homes. The costs have almost doubled over the past five years, he said.

He noted that the price of ready-mix concrete had risen from approximately €69 per cubic metre in 2020 to €140 today, five times the inflation rate of 19.4%.

“There are no controls in place,” the independent councillor said.

“It is absolutely scandalous,” he said. “A cubic metre of concrete should be €80, not €140. That is why our building costs have gone completely and utterly out of control. To build a basic, small house is €350,000. It has more than doubled in a few years.” He stressed that this is the root cause of the housing problem, leading to a “shoebox” apartment in Dublin now costing €600,000.

Citing the mica block scandal, he called for controls to be put in place immediately on the industry, and that the motion be sent to the Taoiseach and the relevant ministers.

Cathaoirleach Liam Callaghan said he fully agreed with the motion, saying that the cost of construction since Covid has gone “out of hand” and causing major upset.

“No one seems to know where the surge in pricing has come from,” he said.

Cllr John Keogh seconded the proposal, describing the increase as “price gouging”.

“Since 2020, it was under the guise that Covid was causing all of this. The invasion of Ukraine, another reason to drive up the price,” the Fianna Fáil councillor said. Wages had not kept near the rate of the increases, he told the meeting, with house prices now five or six times the combined income of a couple.

“There is no question it is at a point where it is not sustainable for people to purchase a house. It is too costly to build them, and that is not sustainable either,” he said.

Cllr Laurence Fallon strongly supported the motion, saying it was part of the reason why housing targets were not being met.

“It suits the companies very well to be gouging huge profits,” he said. “The reality is when houses are getting close to half a million euro in rural Ireland, the vast majority of people have no chance of building them.”

Cllr Tony Ward also supported the motion, saying it was a major problem. He added that there was a lot the council could do to make it easier on people seeking planning permission.

“There is no problem if you’re living in Monksland but there is a problem if you are living a couple of miles out the road.” He asked that the council sit down with the councillors to discuss the issue.

*Published under the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme