Cash-Strapped Irish Are Spending More On Housing Than Food For The First Time Ever

Budget-strained families are spending more on housing than on food for the first time ever, startling new figures reveal.

Home-owners who are struggling with mortgage costs, fuel price hikes and utility bills have cut all other expenses as they face an average €810.61-a-week bill to keep the roof over there head.

The latest report from the Central Statistics Office shows a 56 per cent rise in housing costs over the last five years.

This means that, for the first time ever, the average cost of keeping your home is higher than the average cost of putting food on the table, something many families are experiencing across the country.

The Household Budget Survey said; “Increased expenditure on mortgage and rent accounted for €46.56 of this €53.22 increase.

“Average weekly expenditure on fuel and light, at €35.35 was 15.3 per cent higher than the €30.65 figure recorded five years earlier.”

Pressure on cash-strapped families to budget for their monthly costs...

And separate CSO figures show that these costs in Ireland are the fifth highest in Europe.

According to the Measuring Ireland’s Progress report in 2011, prices in our country are 17 per cent higher than the European average.

To add to this, Ireland’s unemployment rate is the fifth highest in the EU. It also had the fastest-growing population in the EU, rising by 16.91 per cent over ten years.