Runaway property market shows no sign of easing up as prices on track to surge 10pc this year

It’s actually depressing reading that article and knowing FF/FG are going to be voted back in after next election

In 2007 we had 210,000 workers in construction. After 2008 it fell into the 80,000 range. It has only recently reached 200,000 or so again. And just looking at Apples to Apples, there are an extra 1 million people in the country today and we’d need 270,000 construction workers just to be on par with the amount we had in ‘07 relative to the population.

Every scheme, every new regulation, every bit of government money thrown at the wall, comes up against this inescapable reality: We do not have enough capacity to quickly scale from where we are to where we need to be to deliver the number of homes needed to moderate prices.

I don’t know why we can’t try a government scheme to import construction workers, stick them in temporary accommodations and tell them they can get an income tax refund if they successfully complete a contract. Arab states have built cities in the desert using this method – and we can add actual human rights to the employment benefits!

Whatever the solution you prefer, it all comes back to increasing supply dramatically, and a few more schemes to generate more apprentices isn’t solving the issue tomorrow.

I wonder what they’ll be in 2029 when FG are in the 20th consecutive year in Government.