Eoin Ó Broin: We need straight answers on hike in cost of social housing

The question must be asked as to why the private sector is charging DCC €100,000 more per apartment to build than it is charging itself

While construction costs remain broadly the same across public and private developments, public housing does not have the same level of soft costs such as land, finance and profit. Photo: Bloomberg

Since 2016, the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI) has published four reports on the cost of delivering homes. Two, in 2016 and 2020, dealt with houses, while the other two – one published in 2017 and the other last week – focused on apartments.

The reports offer a snapshot in time of the all-in costs of residential development on a self-selected number of live building projects, providing an insight into the construction and non-construction ...